SMEX02 Iowa Satellite Vegetation and Water Index Data

SMEX02 Iowa Satellite Vegetation and Water Index Data provides NDVI and NDWI indices derived from Landsat 5 TM and Landsat 7 ETM+ imagery. The dataset was produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Sources show conflicting last update dates, ranging from 2002 to 2026.

Use Cases

• Analyzing vegetation health and biomass using NDVI values.
• Monitoring soil moisture and water content via NDWI metrics.
• Studying land cover changes over time with satellite-derived indices.
• Validating ground-based soil moisture measurements from the SMEX02 field campaign.

Strengths

• Derived from established Landsat satellite platforms (5 TM and 7 ETM+).
• Provides two standardized environmental indices (NDVI and NDWI).
• Cross-platform presence on Data.gov and NASA Earthdata indicates recognized importance.

Limitations

• Specific row count, column names, and dataset size are unknown from provided sources.
• Sources conflict on the last update date (2002 vs. 2026).
• License is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified'.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Derived from Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) and Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus (ETM+) imagery.

Freshness

Conflicting: 2002-07-17 or 2026-03-12.

Geography

Iowa, USA (inferred from SMEX02 field experiment).