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Biosphere Data Access and Tools

NASA biosphere data range from surface reflectance data useful for measuring the greenness of vegetation to measurements of nighttime lights that disrupt the behaviors of wildlife. Our datasets and tools help researchers translate these interconnected data points into actionable knowledge.

Dataset	Geographic Region	Temporal Extent	Data Format	Potential Application Areas	Related Subtopics
ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 Level 1 ScanSAR Product	Global	2014-08-01 to Present		Wide-area monitoring of land surface changes Regional vegetation and forest monitoring Large wetland area mapping and monitoring Continental-scale land use change detection Regional soil moisture assessment Broad geological feature identification	ecosystems, vegetation
ATLAS/ICESat-2 L2A Global Geolocated Photon Data V006	Global	2018-10-13 to Present	HDF5	Vegetation structure analysis High-precision elevation measurement Ground truth for other elevation datasets Fine-scale topographic change detection	vegetation
ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3A Land and Vegetation Height V006	Global	2018-10-14 to Present	HDF5	Precise forest canopy height mapping Biomass estimation and carbon stock assessment Habitat structure characterization Forest degradation and regrowth monitoring Urban tree canopy assessment Forest inventory support Vegetation structure biodiversity studies	vegetation
Daymet: Annual Climate Summaries on a 1-km Grid for North America, Version 4 R1	North America, Atlantic Ocean	1950-01-01 to 2023-12-31	GeoTiff	Ecological research on climate impacts Forest management and planning Wildlife habitat suitability modeling Disease vector habitat potential mapping Natural resource conservation planning	ecosystem, vegetation
ECOSTRESS Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity Daily L2 Global 70m V001	Global Land	2018-07-09 to 2025-01-06	HDF5	Plant water stress detection at field scale High-resolution thermal mapping Microclimate analysis in complex landscapes Ecosystem function monitoring	vegetation
ECOSTRESS Tiled Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity Instantaneous L2 Global 70 m	Global Land	2018-07-09 to Present	Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF (COG)	Plant water stress monitoring Ecosystem thermodynamics research Environmental temperature extremes monitoring	vegetation
GEDI L2A Elevation and Height Metrics Data Global Footprint Level V002	Global Land	2019-04-04 to 2023-03-16 2024-04-04 to Present	HDF5	Forest canopy structure characterization Biomass estimation for carbon accounting Biodiversity habitat structure assessment Ecosystem structure monitoring Terrain model refinement under vegetation Carbon sequestration potential assessment	ecological dynamics, vegetation
GEDI L4A Footprint Level Aboveground Biomass Density, Version 2.1	Global	2019-04-17 to 2024-11-27	HDF5	Carbon stock assessment in forests Forest management planning Biodiversity habitat structure analysis Sustainable forestry certification support Forest degradation assessment Ecosystem service valuation	ecosystems, terrestrial ecosystems, vegetation
GEDI L4C Footprint Level Waveform Structural Complexity Index, Version 2	Global	2019-04-17 to 2023-03-16	Binary	Habitat complexity analysis for biodiversity Old-growth forest identification Forest succession stage mapping Wildlife habitat quality assessment Forest management impact evaluation Forest restoration planning Canopy architecture research	ecosystems, terrestrial ecosystems, vegetation
Global Aboveground and Belowground Biomass Carbon Density Maps for the Year 2010	Global Land	2010-01-01 to 2010-12-31	GeoTIFF	Global carbon stock accounting Forest conservation priority setting Carbon offset project development Ecosystem service valuation Land use policy development Biodiversity conservation planning	ecosystems, ecological dynamics, vegetation
HLS Landsat Operational Land Imager Surface Reflectance and TOA Brightness Daily Global 30m v2.0	Global	2013-04-11 to Present	Cloud Optimized GeoTiff (COG)	Land cover and land use change monitoring Forest disturbance detection Ecosystem service assessment Environmental impact monitoring	vegetation
HLS Sentinel-2 Multi-spectral Instrument Surface Reflectance Daily Global 30m v2.0	Global	2013-04-11 to Present	Cloud Optimized GeoTiff (COG)	High temporal frequency vegetation monitoring Forest health assessment Biodiversity and habitat monitoring	vegetation
MAIAC Daily V01	Global	2015-06-13 to Present	PNG	Enhanced retrieval of surface reflectance for vegetation studies	vegetation
MODIS/Terra Land Surface Temperature/Emissivity Daily L3 Global 1 km SIN Grid	Global	2000-02-24 to Present	HDF-EOS2	Climate model validation for land surface processes Wildlife habitat thermal condition assessment Land surface process energy balance studies	ecological dynamics
MODIS/Terra Surface Reflectance Daily L2G Global 250m SIN Grid V061	Global	2000-02-24 to Present	HDF-EOS2	Vegetation condition monitoring Land cover change detection Drought impact evaluation on vegetation	vegetation
SENTINEL-1A_SLC	Global	2014-04-03 to Present		Interferometric analysis for surface deformation detection Coherence-based change detection Phase-based classification of land cover Development of advanced SAR processing algorithms Time-series analysis for subtle change detection	terrestrial ecosystems
SENTINEL-1B_DUAL_POL_GRD_HIGH_RES	Global	2016-04-25 to 2021-12-24		Forest disturbance monitoring Land subsidence detection in urban areas	terrestrial ecosystems, vegetation
SENTINEL-1B_SLC	Global	2016-04-25 to 2021-12-24		Complex coherence analysis for vegetation structure Time-series analysis for seasonal change patterns	terrestrial ecosystems, vegetation
VIIRS/JPSS1 Land Surface Temperature/Emissivity Daily L3 Global 1km SIN Grid Day V002	Global	2018-01-01 to Present	HDF-EOS5	Daily thermal environment monitoring Ecological habitat thermal characterization	ecological dynamics
VIIRS/NPP Burned Area Monthly L4 Global 500m SIN Grid V002	Global	2012-03-01 to Present	HDF-EOS5	Ecosystem disturbance tracking Protected area management Forest management and restoration planning Biodiversity impact assessment after fires	ecological dynamics, vegetation
VIIRS/JPSS1 Land Surface Temperature/Emissivity Daily L3 Global 1 km SIN Grid Day	Global	2018-01-01 to Present	HDF-EOS5	Climate change impact studies on land surface Wildlife habitat thermal condition assessment	ecological dynamics

Biosphere Datasets

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Dataset Sort descending	Version	Platforms	Instruments	Temporal Extent	Spatial Extent	Data Format
ISLSCP II IGBP DISCover and SiB Land Cover, 1992-1993	1	FIELD INVESTIGATION, NOAA-14, Terra	STEEL MEASURING TAPE, LICOR LEAF AREA METER, MODIS, AVHRR	1986-01-01 to 1995-12-31	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	Shapefile
ISLSCP II IGBP NPP Output from Terrestrial Biogeochemistry Models	1	NOT APPLICABLE	NOT APPLICABLE	1931-01-01 to 1987-12-31	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	Shapefile
ISLSCP II Leaf Area Index (LAI) from Field Measurements, 1932-2000	1	FIELD INVESTIGATION, NOAA-14, Terra	STEEL MEASURING TAPE, LICOR LEAF AREA METER, MODIS, AVHRR	1932-01-01 to 2000-12-31	N: 71.3 S: -54.5 E: 172.75 W: -156.67	CSV
ISLSCP II MODIS (Collection 4) IGBP Land Cover, 2000-2001	1	Terra	MODIS	2000-10-01 to 2001-10-01	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	Shapefile
ISLSCP II Monthly Snow-Free Albedo, 1982-1998, and Background Soil Reflectance	1	FIELD INVESTIGATION, Terra, NOAA-14	STEEL MEASURING TAPE, LICOR LEAF AREA METER, MODIS, AVHRR	1982-01-01 to 1998-12-31	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	Shapefile
ISLSCP II NOAA 5-year Average Monthly Snow-free Albedo from AVHRR	1	FIELD INVESTIGATION, NOAA-14, Terra	STEEL MEASURING TAPE, LICOR LEAF AREA METER, MODIS, AVHRR	1985-04-01 to 1991-03-31	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	Shapefile
ISLSCP II Northern Hemisphere Monthly Snow Cover Extent	1	NOT APPLICABLE	NOT APPLICABLE	1986-01-01 to 1995-12-31	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	Shapefile
ISLSCP II Potential Natural Vegetation Cover	1	NOAA-14, Terra, FIELD INVESTIGATION	AVHRR, MODIS	1992-04-01 to 1993-04-01	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	ASCII
ISLSCP II Sea Surface Temperature	1	NOT APPLICABLE	NOT APPLICABLE	1971-01-01 to 2000-12-31	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	Shapefile
ISLSCP II Total Plant-Available Soil Water Storage Capacity of the Rooting Zone	1	FIXED OBSERVATION STATIONS, FIELD INVESTIGATION	EDDY CORRELATION DEVICES, IR CO2 ANALYZER	1987-01-01 to 1988-12-31	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	ASCII

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VIIRS

Vegetation indices measure the amount of green vegetation over a given area and can be used to assess vegetation health. A commonly-used vegetation index is the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), which uses the difference between near-infrared (NIR) and red reflectance divided by their sum. NDVI values range from -1 to 1. Low values of NDVI generally correspond to barren areas of rock, sand, exposed soils, or snow, while higher NDVI values indicate greener vegetation, including forests, croplands, and wetlands.

VIIRS Vegetation Indices on Earthdata Search

Biosphere Data Tools

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Tool Sort descending	Description	Services
AppEEARS	The The Application for Extracting and Exploring Analysis Ready Samples (AppEEARS) offers users a simple and efficient way to perform data access and transformation processes.	Search and Discovery, Subsetting, Customization, Downloading, Visualization
Biomass Earthdata Dashboard	Observe global forest biomass harmonization activity with the Biomass Earthdata Dashboard.	Analysis, Search and Discovery, Visualization
CASEI	The Catalog of Archived Suborbital Earth Science Investigations (CASEI) is a comprehensive inventory of contextual information for NASA's Earth Science airborne and field campaigns.	Search and Discovery, Cataloging
FIRMS	The Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) provides access to satellite imagery, active fire/hotspots, and related products to identify the location, extent, and intensity of wildfire activity.	Access, Visualization
Giovanni	Giovanni is a web application for accessing, visualizing, and analyzing Earth science remote sensing data without downloading the data.	Search and Discovery, Analysis, Access, Visualization, Downloading, Subsetting
OpenAltimetry	OpenAltimetry is a map-based visualization tool for exploring surface elevation data across Earth over time.	Analysis, Search and Discovery, Visualization
Panoply	Panoply is a cross-platform application that plots geo-referenced and other arrays from netCDF, HDF, GRIB, and other datasets.	Visualization, Customization, Reformatting, Subsetting, Comparison
POWER DAV	The POWER project’s Data Access Viewer (DAV) is an interactive web-mapping application that provides access to NASA’s customized solar and meteorological data catalog.	Analysis, Downloading, Subsetting, Visualization
STREAM	STREAM is a rapid water quality monitoring tool that processes satellite imagery to create maps showing chlorophyll-a, Total Suspended Solids, and water clarity at 20-30 meter resolution.	Processing
TESViS	The Terrestrial Ecology Subsetting & Visualization Services Global Subsets Tool provides on-demand, customized subsets of several terrestrial ecology data products.	Visualization, Subsetting

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Frequently Asked Questions

Earthdata Forum

Our online forum provides a space for users to browse thousands of FAQs about research needs, data, and data applications. You can also submit new questions for our experts to answer.

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Biosphere Data Access and Tools

Commonly Used Datasets for Applications in the Biosphere

Biosphere Datasets

Biosphere Data Tools

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