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(i) Context:The ICP Forests database is probably the most comprehensive forest ecosystem database in Europe and contains the accumulated results of several decades of harmonised monitoring all over Europe. (ii) Aims: Goal of this paper is to open the soil information of the ICP Forests Level II plots for broader use among forest scientists. (iii) Methods: The soil data were gathered according to the ICP Forests manual, purified, validated, and aggregated to meaningful variables and summarizing soil properties. (iv) Main features and potential use of database: The aggregated Level II forest soil database provides the occasion for the combined evaluation of up to 130 unique soil variables per plot with dynamic data on tree growth, ground vegetation, foliage chemistry, crown condition, tree phenology, leaf area index, ground vegetation, ozone injury, litterfall, soil solution, deposition, ambient air quality, and meteorological data assessed on the same plots. (v) Conclusions:The database covers nearly all member states of the European Union, but it is not representative for this area in terms of tree species and soil types due to the original selection criteria for the plots.

• The data policy for original soil data is described in the ICP-Forests Manual on methods and criteria for harmonised sampling, assessment, monitoring and analysis of the effects of air pollution on forests, chapter 1, Annex (http://icp-forests.net/page/icp-forests-manual). Aggregated soil data can be obtained for studies in close collaboration with the Expert Panel on Soil and Soil Solution of ICP Forests, also implying co-authorship of the experts that produced the aggregated datasets in case of fulfillment of the criteria of the Vancouver Protocol (http://icp-forests.net/page/bodies-structure).

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