Table 1 Characteristics of environmental variables considered important in predicting the distribution of STH in Zimbabwe

Gridded monthly CHIRPS precipitation

mm per month

Climate Hazards Group

http://chg.geog.ucsb.edu/data/chirps/

MODIS monthly daytime land surface temperature (MOD11C3)

Kelvin

NASA’s Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC)

https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/

MODIS monthly night-time land surface temperature (MOD11C3)

Kelvin

NASA’s Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC)

https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/

MODIS normalized difference vegetation index (MOD13A3)

dimensionless (-1 to 1)

NASA’s Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC)

https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/

Gridded human population density

number of persons/km²

Socioeconomic and Data Application Centers

http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/data/

Distance from perennial rivers

m

Calculated in a GIS

Long-term average soil moisture

%

Africa Soil Information Services

africasoils.net

Soil pH

–

International Soil Reference Centre (ISRIC)

http://www.isric.org

Soil organic carbon (C) content topsoil (0–30 cm)

% C

International Soil Reference Centre (ISRIC)

http://www.isric.org