Alaskan Boreal Forest NDVI and Structure Data from Burned and Unburned Sites

Field and satellite data from 102 sites in interior Alaska's boreal forests provide measurements of leaf area index, tree species cover, canopy cover, and NDVI trends. The dataset combines field surveys from 2017-2018 with a 20-year Landsat NDVI time series (1999-2018) to analyze vegetation changes related to fire disturbance and succession. Data were collected by ORNL_CLOUD across a 425 km transect, including sites with and without fire since 1940.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the relationship between NDVI trends and on-the-ground forest structure metrics like leaf area index and canopy cover.
• Modeling the impact of wildfire history and time-since-fire on vegetation indices and species composition.
• Validating satellite-derived NDVI estimates with field-collected data from specific, geolocated forest stands.
• Investigating successional pathways in boreal forests by comparing recently burned sites with long-unburned control sites.

Strengths

• Combines 20 years of satellite-derived NDVI trends (1999-2018) with contemporaneous field validation data from 102 sites.
• Spatial coverage is substantial, with surveyed forest stands spanning over 425 kilometers across interior Alaska.
• Experimental design includes controlled comparison between sites with and without fire since 1940, covering a range of years since disturbance.

Limitations

• Exact row count, column names, and dataset size are not provided by any source, limiting precise understanding of data structure.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates exist between platforms (2018-08-20 vs. 2026-03 12), creating uncertainty about metadata maintenance.

Provenance

Source

ORNL_CLOUD

Collection Method

Field surveys at pre-selected sites combined with Landsat satellite image analysis to calculate median growing season NDVI and linear regression trends.

Time Range

1999 to 2018

Freshness

2026-03-12 23:22:25.854038

Geography

Interior Alaska, U.S., boreal forests.