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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
SMAPVEX15 PALS Soil Moisture Data V001 1 AIRCRAFT PALS 2015-08-02 to 2015-08-18

N: 31.87 S: 31.51 E: -109.84 W: -110.96

1500 Meters x 1500 Meters CSV
SMAPVEX16 Iowa PALS Brightness Temperature and Soil Moisture Data V001 1 AIRCRAFT PALS 2016-05-28 to 2016-08-16

N: 42.66 S: 42.28 E: -93.21 W: -93.58

500 Meters x 500 Meters CSV
SMAPVEX16 Manitoba In Situ Vegetation Data V001 1 GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS STEEL MEASURING TAPE 2016-06-13 to 2016-07-21

N: 49.761171 S: 49.384076 E: -97.756264 W: -98.098417

CSV, Geodatabase, KMZ
SMAPVEX16 Manitoba Leaf Area Index V001 1 GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS CAMERAS 2016-06-13 to 2016-07-21

N: 49.761171 S: 49.384076 E: -97.756264 W: -98.098417

CSV, KMZ
SMAPVEX16 Manitoba PALS Brightness Temperature and Soil Moisture Data V001 1 AIRCRAFT PALS 2016-06-08 to 2016-07-22

N: 49.79 S: 49.36 E: -97.75 W: -98.12

500 Meters x 500 Meters CSV
SMAPVEX19-22 Massachusetts Field Measured Forest Tree Inventory, Biophysical Data, Leaf Area Index, and Estimated Biomass V001 1 GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS CAMERAS, LICOR PLANT CANOPY ANALYZER 2022-04-20 to 2022-08-01

N: 42.72 S: 42.32 E: -71.91 W: -72.33

200 Meters x 200 Meters CSV, Shapefile
SMAPVEX19-22 Massachusetts Plant Area Index V001 1 GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS CAMERAS 2019-04-01 to 2022-12-01

N: 42.72 S: 42.32 E: -71.91 W: -72.33

JPEG, CSV
SMAPVEX19-22 Massachusetts Vegetation Optical Depth V001 1 GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS DIELECTRIC PROBE, HUMIDITY SENSORS, PRESSURE SENSORS, RADIOMETERS, SOIL MOISTURE PROBE, SOIL TEMPERATURE PROBE, THERMOMETERS 2019-04-28 to 2019-10-17

N: 42.54 S: 42.54 E: -72.17 W: -72.17

CSV
SMAPVEX19-22 Millbrook Field Measured Forest Tree Inventory, Biophysical Data, Leaf Area Index, and Estimated Biomass V001 1 GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS CAMERAS, LICOR PLANT CANOPY ANALYZER 2022-04-20 to 2022-08-01

N: 42.05 S: 41.66 E: -73.42 W: -73.81

200 Meters x 200 Meters CSV, Shapefile
SMAPVEX19-22 Millbrook Plant Area Index V001 1 GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS CAMERAS 2019-04-01 to 2022-12-01

N: 42.05 S: 41.66 E: -73.42 W: -73.81

JPEG, CSV
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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
VEDA NASA's Visualization, Exploration, and Data Analysis (VEDA) project is an open-source science cyberinfrastructure for data processing, visualization, exploration, and geographic information systems (GIS) capabilities. Access, Analysis, Processing, Visualization, Geoprocessing
Vertex Vertex is a graphical search interface for finding synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data. Search and Discovery, Access, Downloading, Processing, Subsetting
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