José Alexandre Demattê¹, Raúl Roberto Poppiel¹, Deorgia Tayane Mendes de Souza², Gustavo de Mattos Vasques³
The Brazilian Soil Spectral Library (BESB), described in an article published on the SBCS blog (https://www.sbcs.org.br/2025/03/17/4374), has completed eight years since the publication of its main scientific work (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016706118318548). The BESB is already considered the largest soil spectral library in the world in the Vis-NIR range, both in private datasets and in those made publicly available on Zenodo (https://zenodo.org/records/8092774). This is an enormous achievement. Despite its name, the BESB has, in fact, been a collaborative network that has contributed significantly to the development of soil spectroscopy in Brazil.
The BESB, with the support of SBCS, FAPESP, and CNPq, began at ESALQ/USP, aiming to demonstrate the potential of soil spectroscopy and to build a national critical mass. It also encouraged the creation of regional hubs, including those equipped with sensors. Today, it is evident that there is room to advance through the establishment of a network. The current proposal can be described as the decentralization and expansion of the BESB, which will strengthen regional research groups in soil spectroscopy and foster new partnerships.
Thus, we present a new initiative: the Brazilian Network on Soil Sensing (REBSS). The REBSS’s main goal is to be a communication group for people interested in the subject, where they can exchange diverse information and form partnerships to advance the field. Topics that may be addressed and discussed include: how to create a soil spectral library, which protocols are being adopted worldwide, how to harmonize and normalize data, how to integrate curves obtained by different sensors, geometries used for reading samples, among others. More importantly, this group aims to discuss how to make such technology available to society, since a soil spectral library, in itself, has no real value unless it progresses to the next stage—becoming an accessible service for the population.
And how can this be done? This is precisely the purpose of the REBSS: to show and discuss possible paths, to connect the group to researchers specializing in chemistry, fertility, pedology, pedometrics, and any other discipline interested in this cross-cutting technology. REBSS aims to integrate professionals from various fields, focusing on opening avenues, including for MRV (Monitoring, Reporting, Verification). In addition, REBSS will create space for remote sensing fundamentals, scaling up from the laboratory to the field, drone, and satellite.
Initially, participants in the group will exchange all kinds of information, from events, forums, news, and scientific articles to algorithms and any other resources they wish to share. After this first stage, the proposal is to create and expand repositories of data and algorithms to facilitate everyone’s work. The goal of REBSS is to strengthen dispersed groups that have been working individually in a fully globalized world, where partnerships are essential for progress, speed, and the adoption of spectroscopy as a strong, interdisciplinary, and sustainable science.
Different actions are already being carried out by various groups, which are building spectral libraries at different levels of representativeness—from a simple toposequence to state-level efforts in Brazil, in states such as BA, RS, SC, PR, SP, RJ, MG, MT, PB, PI, DF, and GO. The idea is to establish a collaborative network aimed at developing regional libraries with applications tailored to the needs of science and society. REBSS’s role will be to encourage and support groups in creating institutional, municipal, regional, or state spectral libraries, as well as to promote and propose rules, models, and resources for standardizing data in libraries—if the group deems such standardization relevant.
With everyone’s participation, applications multiply, such as their inclusion in education, the creation of an online system for region-specific soil analysis, and the incorporation of artificial intelligence. Spectroscopic information opens up new possibilities. Data can be open or restricted, at the participant’s discretion. A process is currently underway to make the information available while respecting confidentiality. This was widely discussed at an event promoted by the FAO (https://www.fao.org/global-soil-partnership/glosolan-old/soil-analysis/dry-chemistry-spectroscopy/presentations-3rd-spectroscopy-2022/en/). One approach under development is based on a model called the federated data system (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016706125000977), which demonstrates the numerous possibilities for using sensor data without violating ethics, privacy, or the effort invested in obtaining the data. REBSS will present possible paths, facilitate communication, and encourage partnerships, but the choice to share data and participate in the initiatives promoted by the Network will always be individual. REBSS will also bring international updates on obtaining spectra using protocols, geometries, and standards, with the vision of having laboratories with internationally recognized quality.
Spectroscopy, as part of remote sensing, is a cross-cutting science that can integrate any subfield of soil science, such as mineralogy, genesis, carbon, fertility, chemistry, microbiology, pollution, physics, classification, mapping, soil health, geology, and others. It is a science with physical foundations, dynamic and with broad application flexibility, including soil mapping and classification, precision agriculture, and soil analysis, among others. REBSS will not be limited to a single spectral range. The goal is to expand to all available ranges, such as gamma rays, X-ray fluorescence, ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared, mid-infrared, apparent electrical conductivity, magnetic susceptibility, among others—then progressing to sensors onboard satellites, both optical and thermal, as well as radar. From fundamental science to applications, REBSS will explore sensors mounted on tractors and other equipment, always aiming to develop products for society’s benefit. It will also delve into cloud-based soil quantification and pattern identification systems using artificial intelligence, as a public service, as well as the development of hybrid soil analysis laboratories. Since it is metric information, it falls within the discipline of pedometrics and digital mapping.
The scientific community will migrate to the universe of remote sensors, with terrestrial spectroscopic information as the foundation to study fundamentals and advance spectroscopy through remote sensing (via drones and satellites). In this new phase, the user will be able to move from point-level to spatial data, scaling information to the desired level—regional, state, continental, or global. Applications in the agricultural and environmental fields are limited only by the users’ imagination. In the field of soil remote sensing, the Brazilian group is considered the second largest in the world in terms of critical mass.
Imagine a cross-cutting discipline with metric data, viewable both in the laboratory and via satellite, led by Brazilian researchers—that is REBSS. It is not only about data acquisition or research but about building a community that shares experiences, moves forward together, and strengthens national science.
This initial proposal for REBSS, based on the Geotechnologies in Soil Science (GEOCIS) group at ESALQ-USP and supported by Embrapa Soils, aims to create both a physical and virtual environment for exchanging experiences, sharing articles and data, and forming partnerships—especially regarding the study of soils and sensors, from basic science to commercial applications—thus connecting with the end user. It will be a space focused on debate and discussion, with the goal of raising the knowledge level and integration of participants in soil spectroscopy and sensing, keeping Brazil at the forefront of this technology worldwide.
We therefore invite the entire national scientific community to join this new phase by registering for free via the link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfSIzlLFUDjphZ5gF4MkwM2uc-Owx9KM02QQCdDuVtk4fUXIg/viewform?usp=dialog. Join us!
¹ University of São Paulo, Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture (ESALQ/USP), Department of Soil Science – LSO, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil; Geotechnologies in Soil Science Group (GeoCiS). E-mails: jamdemat@usp.br, raulpoppiel@usp.br;
² State University of Bahia (UNEB), Campus XI, Serrinha, BA, Brazil; Remote Sensing and Spectroscopy Laboratory (LABESPECTRO). E-mail: dtmsouza@uefs.br; ³ Embrapa Soils, Brazil. E-mail: gustavo.vasques@embrapa.br.
