BOREAS Circumpolar Photosynthetically Active Radiation Satellite Images

Satellite-derived estimates of surface-incident photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) for the boreal forest zone from 1979 to 1989. Data provides 1-degree resolution images for May through September each year, including 11-year statistical summaries. The dataset was produced by the BOREAS RSS-10 team using Nimbus-7 TOMS ultraviolet reflectivity data.

Use Cases

• Modeling plant photosynthesis and primary productivity in boreal ecosystems using PAR values.
• Analyzing seasonal and interannual variability of solar radiation available for vegetation growth.
• Identifying spatial patterns of PAR across the circumpolar region using the 1-degree gridded data.
• Masking analysis to focus studies on the boreal forest zone, ocean/land, or snow/ice areas.
• Calculating long-term climatological statistics for PAR using the provided 11-year mean, standard deviation, and coefficient of variation.

Strengths

• Provides an 11-year time series (1979-1989) enabling analysis of seasonal and interannual variability.
• Includes derived statistical summaries (mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation) for the full period.
• Offers spatial masks to isolate the boreal forest zone, land, ocean, and snow/ice for targeted analysis.
• Cross-platform presence on NASA EarthData and Data.gov signals established use and importance in the research community.

Limitations

• Specific row counts, file sizes, and detailed column names are not provided by any source.
• Conflicting last update dates exist between sources (1989-09 30 and 2026-03-13), creating uncertainty about metadata maintenance.
• Data is limited to the May-September growing season and the circumpolar band (41-66°N), not full annual or global coverage.

Provenance

Source

BOREAS RSS-10 team, using Nimbus-7 Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) data.

Collection Method

Satellite estimates derived from global gridded ultraviolet reflectivity (average of 360, 380 nm).

Time Range

1979-1989 (May through September each year)

Freshness

2026-03-13 12:27:24.146924

Geography

Circumpolar, 41 to 66 degrees North latitude.