BOREAS Landsat TM Leaf Area Index Images for Boreal Forest Study

Three Landsat Thematic Mapper images provide Leaf Area Index (LAI) data for the BOREAS project's Southern and Northern Study Areas. The images are derived from ground measurements and Landsat TM RSR data, stored as binary image-format files. The dataset was produced by the BOREAS RSS-07 team and processed at the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing.

Use Cases

• Validating satellite-derived LAI products against ground-based measurements from the BOREAS campaign.
• Modeling boreal forest canopy structure and photosynthetic capacity across different study areas and seasons.
• Analyzing spatial patterns of vegetation density in the SSA (1991) and NSA (1994) for ecological studies.
• Serving as a historical reference for change detection studies in northern forest ecosystems.

Strengths

• Data is calibrated with ground measurements, providing a link between satellite observations and physical canopy properties.
• Covers two distinct BOREAS study areas (SSA and NSA) across three acquisition dates in 1991 and 1994.
• Includes companion thumbnail images and a viewer utility for convenient data inspection and access.

Limitations

• Specific row/column counts and file sizes are not provided by any source, obscuring the dataset's exact scale.
• Sources conflict on the 'last updated' date, with one listing 1994-06-09 and others listing 2026 03-13, creating uncertainty about metadata maintenance.
• The complete set of underlying image bands or processing parameters is not detailed in the available descriptions.

Provenance

Source

BOREAS RSS-07 team, processed at the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS).

Collection Method

Landsat TM images were processed using ground measurements and Landsat TM RSR images to produce LAI estimates.

Time Range

1991-06-06 to 1994-06-09

Freshness

2026-03 13 07:24:41.307001

Geography

BOREAS Southern Study Area (SSA) and Northern Study Area (NSA).