High-Resolution Land Cover Solar-Induced Fluorescence for Midwest Crops

Midwest USA satellite data provides estimated solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) for specific vegetation types at a 4 km resolution. The dataset contains 8-day averaged daily means for the 2018 crop growing season, derived from TROPOMI, USDA Cropland Data Layer, and MODIS fPAR products. NASA produced these estimates to improve vegetation productivity and stress assessments.

Use Cases

• Estimating corn and soybean photosynthetic activity using SIF, PAR, fPAR, and SIFyield components.
• Comparing vegetation stress across land cover types (forest, grass/pasture) under clear-sky and cloudy conditions.
• Validating crop productivity models with high-resolution, vegetation-specific fluorescence data.
• Analyzing spatial and temporal patterns of canopy SIF yield during the growing season.

Strengths

• Data provides uncertainty estimates for each SIF model variable, supporting reliability assessments.
• Derived from multiple authoritative sources including TROPOMI satellite data and USDA land cover classification.
• Focuses on a specific, agriculturally significant region (Midwest USA) and growing season (2018).

Limitations

• Row count, total size, and exact column names are unavailable from all sources.
• Conflicting last updated dates exist between platforms (2018-09-23 on NASA Earthdata vs. 2026-03-13 on Data.gov).
• Temporal coverage is limited to a single growing season (May to September 2018).

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Derived from TROPOMI satellite instrument data, USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service Cropland Data Layer, and MODIS MCD15A2H fPAR product.

Time Range

2018-05-01 to 2018-09-29

Freshness

2026-03-13 01:42:06.901321

Geography

Midwest USA