Physical condition of soil provides an integrated view of various physical impediments to plant growth associated with surface soils, subsoils and other limitations (e.g. waterlogging, salinity, rockiness or steepness). Mapping shows the most limiting soil physical condition (provided it occupies at least 30% of a map unit), while detailed proportion data are supplied for calculating respective areas of each physical condition of soil class (spatial data statistics).

Physical condition of surface soil mapping highlights areas where plant growth may be impeded due to poor surface soil structure, predominantly due to a condition known as hard setting. Mapping shows the proportion of land with surface soils susceptible to hard setting or sealing, while detailed proportion data are supplied for calculating respective areas of each physical condition of surface soil class (spatial data statistics).

Surface carbonate often occurs as finely divided particles which reduce nutrient availability to plants and retard the degradation of some herbicides. Mapping shows the proportion of land with calcareous surface soils, while detailed proportion data are supplied for calculating respective areas of each surface carbonate class (spatial data statistics).

Water repellence, or non-wetting, due to coating of soil particles by waxy materials from the breakdown of plant debris can result in water beading on the surface, uneven wetting and large masses of soil remaining dry. Mapping shows the proportion of land affected and degree of water repellence, while detailed proportion data are supplied for calculating respective areas of each water repellence class (spatial data statistics).

,The Southern Great Plains 1997 (SGP97) Hydrology Experiment originated from an interdisciplinary investigation, "Soil Moisture Mapping at Satellite Temporal and Spatial Scales" (PI: Thomas J. Jackson, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, MD) selected under the NASA Research Announcement 95-MTPE-03. The region selected for investigation is the best instrumented site for surface soil moisture, hydrology and meteorology in the world. This includes the USDA/ARS Little Washita Watershed, the USDA/ARS facility at El Reno, Oklahoma, the ARM/CART central facility, as well as the Oklahoma Mesonet. The temporal coverage for this dataset is as follows: Begin datetime: 1997-06-01 00:00:00, End datetime: 1997-07-31 23:59:59. This data set was developed by the EOS IDS Team at Penn State for the Southern Great Plains 1997 (SGP-97) project. The following data coverages are available: DEM, Landcover and Landuse, Gauge Stations, Available Water Capacity, Bulk Density, Depth to Bedrock, Hydrologic Soils Group, Mapunits, Percent Water, Porosity, Rock Fragment Class, Rock Volume, Soil Fractions, and Surface Soil Texture. Note that the data presented in the tables have had the tare weights removed.,

Non-watertable salinity (or dry saline land) is where soil contains elevated levels of soluble salts that are not associated with a watertable. Mapping shows the degree of non-watertable salinity, based on the most saline part of the map unit (provided it occupies at least 30%), while detailed proportion data are supplied for calculating respective areas of each non-watertable salinity class (spatial data statistics).