The Average Color of the United States

The map above shows the color of soil across the United States. The image comes from the University of California's Soil Properties map, which shows the color of moist soil at different depth levels across the whole country. 

Soil color can tell natural scientists a lot about a landscape’s recent and long-term history. It can also provide clues about mineralogy and about where organic matter has accumulated. The color of the soil can also help scientists determine what types of soil can be found at different locations.

The Soil Properties map doesn't only show the color of moist soil at different depth levels. The interactive map also includes many other map layers which provide information on the chemical properties of soil across the United States, information on soil depth & erodibility, and the sand, silt and clay properties of the soil.

The animated map above shows the average color of the USA throughout the year as derived from Sentinel 2 satellite imagery. The map was created by Erin Davis. If you visit Erin's post the Average Seasonal Color of the USA you can view 35 separate maps showing how the average colors of the USA change over the course of a single year.

Erin has also published a series of interesting maps showing the average colors of countries around the world based on Sentinel satellite imagery. The Average Colors of the World includes maps of each continent and a map of the world on which each country is colored based on its average satellite color.