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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.

Biosphere Datasets

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Dataset Version Platforms Instruments Temporal Extent Spatial Extent Spatial Resolution Data Format
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
LBA-ECO LC-19 Soil and Vegetation Data for Cerrado and Forested Sites, Brazil: 2002 1 FIELD INVESTIGATION THERMOMETERS 2002-06-10 to 2002-07-30

N: -2.857 S: -15.75 E: -47.6 W: -54.959

CSV
SAFARI 2000 MODIS Water and Heat Fluxes, Maun, Botswana, Dry Season 2001 1 FIXED OBSERVATION STATIONS, FIELD INVESTIGATION, Terra, MODELS PRESSURE SENSORS, WIND MONITOR, HUMIDITY SENSORS, NET RADIOMETERS, EDDY CORRELATION DEVICES, SOIL HEAT FLUX TRANSDUCER, MODIS, Computer 2001-09-02 to 2001-09-29

N: -17.9946 S: -21.0004 E: 24.5004 W: 21.4946

Shapefile
LBA-ECO CD-02 Oxygen Isotopes of Plant Tissue Water and Atmospheric Water Vapor 1 LABORATORY MASS SPECTROMETERS 1999-03-01 to 2004-09-30

N: 1 S: -10.7618 E: 54.5792 W: -62.3572

CSV
LBA-ECO LC-08 Soil, Vegetation, and Land Cover Maps for Brazil and South America 1 FIELD INVESTIGATION DIGITIZER 1981-01-01 to 1991-12-31

N: 12.4713 S: -34.8444 E: -30 W: -81.3572

GeoTIFF
Arctic Vegetation Plots for NGEE-Arctic at Barrow, Alaska, 2012 1 FIELD INVESTIGATION, FIELD SURVEYS STEEL MEASURING TAPE, VISUAL OBSERVATIONS 2012-07-17 to 2012-07-21

N: 71.2822 S: 71.2791 E: -156.6 W: -156.612

CSV
A Global Database of Gas Fluxes from Soils after Rewetting or Thawing, Version 1.0 1 FIELD INVESTIGATION LICOR SOIL GAS CHAMBER 1956-01-01 to 2009-12-31

N: 74.5 S: -36.45 E: 160.525 W: -149.633

CSV
Aircraft Flux-Raw: NRCC (FIFE) 1 DHC-6 HYGROMETERS, INFRARED RADIOMETERS, PRESSURE TRANSDUCERS, EDDY CORRELATION DEVICES, NDIR GAS ANALYZER, RADAR ALTIMETERS, PYRANOMETERS, WIND PROFILERS 1987-06-26 to 1989-10-31

N: 40 S: 37 E: -95 W: -102

multiple
BOREAS HYD-08 1996 Gravimetric Moss Moisture Data 1 FIELD INVESTIGATION BALANCE 1996-07-04 to 1996-08-13

N: 53.99 S: 53.99 E: -105.12 W: -105.12

ASCII
BOREAS TF-04 SSA-YJP Tower Flux, Meteorological, and Canopy Condition Data, R1 1 FIXED OBSERVATION STATIONS PSYCHROMETERS, NET RADIOMETERS, ANEMOMETERS, ANEROID PRESSURE SENSOR, EDDY CORRELATION DEVICES, IRGA, RAIN GAUGES, THERMOCOUPLES, LICOR QUANTUM SENSOR 1993-09-02 to 1994-09-20

N: 53.88 S: 53.88 E: -104.65 W: -104.65

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 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
Earthdata Search Earthdata Search enables data discovery, search, comparison, visualization, and access across NASA’s Earth science data holdings. Search and Discovery, Access, Cataloging, Cloud Computing, Downloading
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
POPGRID Viewer POPGRID Viewer explores the intercomparison of population counts and settlement mapping from leading global data sources. 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
SHOWING 10 OF 15

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