Alaskan Understory Biomass from Burned and Unburned Sites

2016 to 2018 measurements of vegetation biomass from 11 locations across Alaska. The dataset, provided by NASA, includes harvested vegetation from plots sorted by functional group or species, dried, and weighed. It covers sites selected to investigate fire disturbance and spans permafrost regions and vegetation types from boreal forests to lowland fens.

Use Cases

• Analyzing biomass differences between burned and unburned sites across various Alaskan ecosystems.
• Studying the relationship between permafrost extent (continuous to sporadic) and understory vegetation productivity.
• Modeling carbon stocks in tundra and boreal forest understories using direct harvest biomass measurements.
• Comparing vascular and non-vascular plant contributions to total biomass across distinct plot sizes (50cm x 50cm vs. 25cm x 25cm).

Strengths

• Data covers a strategically selected range of 11 sites spanning continuous to sporadic permafrost and multiple vegetation types.
• Includes detailed methodology with plot sizes specified for vascular (50cm x 50cm) and non-vascular (25cm x 25cm) vegetation.
• Vegetation was sorted to functional group or species level where possible, providing taxonomic detail.

Limitations

• Exact row count, column names, and dataset size are unknown from all provided sources.
• There is a conflict in the 'last updated' date between platforms (2018-07-11 on NASA Earthdata vs. 2026-03 12 on Data.gov).

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Vegetation harvested from plots at the end of 30-m transects (or randomly at one site), sorted, dried, and weighed.

Time Range

2016 to 2018

Freshness

2026-03-12 20:38:24.221932

Geography

11 locations across Alaska