PhenoCam Vegetation Phenology from 738 Global Camera Sites

Phenological observations from 738 sites across diverse ecosystems, primarily in North America, spanning 2000 to 2023. The PhenoCam Network derived this data from high-frequency (typically 30-minute) digital camera imagery, resulting in 4805.5 site-years of canopy greenness and transition date records. Data is provided in multiple formats including CSV, TIFF, and GeoJSON.

Use Cases

• Modeling phenological cycles using time series of canopy greenness and transition dates.
• Validating satellite-derived vegetation indices with ground-based RGB color channel data.
• Studying climate change impacts by analyzing long-term greenness rising and falling dates across ecosystems.
• Benchmarking earth system models with observed vegetation color statistics from specific regions-of-interest.

Strengths

• Contains 4805.5 site-years of observations, providing a substantial temporal record.
• Data is derived from high-frequency (30-minute) imagery, enabling detailed time-series analysis.
• Covers 738 sites across diverse global ecosystems, offering broad spatial representation.

Limitations

• Sources conflict on the last updated date (2026-03 12 vs. 2023-12-31).
• Specific column names and total row counts are not provided in the available metadata.
• License is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without clear terms.

Provenance

Source

PhenoCam Network, organized by ORNL_CLOUD.

Collection Method

Derived from conventional visible-wavelength automated digital camera imagery, with RGB color channel information extracted from regions-of-interest.

Time Range

2000-2023

Freshness

2026-03-12 22:49:20.318138

Geography

738 sites across diverse ecosystems worldwide, mostly in North America.