SAFARI 2000 Kalahari Transect PAR Canopy Measurements

SAFARI 2000 PAR measurements were collected at four sites in Botswana during the March 2000 wet season campaign using a Decagon AccuPAR ceptometer. The dataset contains raw photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) sensor readings from 80 sensors along a wand, organized by site and transect into CSV files. Data from ORNL_CLOUD can be processed to compute derived vegetation metrics like leaf area index and fraction of photosynthetically active radiation.

Use Cases

• Calculating leaf area index (LAI) and fraction of photosynthetically active radiation (FPAR) from incident, transmitted, and reflected PAR measurements.
• Analyzing spatial variation in canopy light interception across three parallel 750-meter transects at four distinct sites.
• Studying gap fraction and canopy structure in Kalahari Transect vegetation using sensor data fixed at 1 cm intervals.
• Validating satellite-derived vegetation products with ground-based PAR measurements from a coordinated field campaign.
• Investigating diurnal or seasonal photosynthetic capacity using PAR data recorded in Local Time.

Strengths

• Provides high-resolution spatial data with 80 PAR sensors at 1 cm intervals along a measurement wand.
• Covers four distinct sites along the Kalahari Transect with measurements along three parallel 750 m transects per site.
• Includes multiple PAR measurement types (incident, reflected, transmitted) for each data point, identified by file comments.

Limitations

• Data exists in raw ASCII/CSV format and requires processing with manufacturer software for derived products.
• Conflicting last updated dates exist between platforms (2000-03-18 vs 2026-03 12), indicating potential metadata inconsistency.
• Specific row counts, file sizes, and complete column names are not provided by any source.

Provenance

Source

ORNL_CLOUD

Collection Method

Field measurements with a Decagon AccuPAR (Model PAR-80) ceptometer near stake flags at 25 m intervals along transects.

Time Range

March 2000

Freshness

2026-03-12 22:15:41.129709

Geography

Four sites in Botswana: Maun, Pandamentanga, Ghanzi/Okwa River Crossing, and Tshane along the Kalahari Transect.