GHISACONUS: Hyperspectral Crop Signatures for the Conterminous U.S., 2008-2015

GHISACONUS V001 provides hyperspectral signatures for five major U.S. crops across seven agroecological zones. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) compiled this library using EO-1 Hyperion satellite data from 2008 to 2015, referencing USDA crop layers and University of Wisconsin-Madison growth calendars. It includes spectral data, geographic coordinates, crop type, growth stage, and agroecological zone labels for crops like winter wheat, rice, corn, soybeans, and cotton.

Use Cases

• Train crop type classification models based on hyperspectral signatures and crop type labels.
• Analyze spectral changes across crop growth stages based on the six provided phenological stages.
• Develop models for agroecological zone-specific crop monitoring using the seven AEZ classifications.
• Validate satellite-derived agricultural indices using ground-referenced spectral libraries.

Strengths

• Covers five major crops representing approximately 65% of global cropland area.
• Includes data across six distinct crop growth stages, from emergence to harvest.
• Spatial coverage spans seven agroecological zones across the conterminous United States.
• Data collection utilized multiple platforms: spaceborne (EO-1 Hyperion), airborne, and ground-based.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect temporal bias inherent to the 2008-2015 collection period.

Provenance

Source

United States Geological Survey (USGS) and partnering volunteer agencies.

Collection Method

Compiled from Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) Hyperion hyperspectral data, using USDA Cropland Data Layer and SAGE crop calendars as reference.

Time Range

2008 through 2015

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 01:53:16.976673; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Conterminous United States (CONUS)