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The U.S. Geological Survey released today historical remote sensing data and graphics that capture biological life-cycle events or phenology. The data will help scientists research climate change as well as land use change and other phenomena dealing with the change of plant and animal life cycles.

The data that is compiled by the EROS data center in Sioux Falls, S.D., dates back to 1989 and can be downloaded as a graphic PNG image or as image data that is bundled with metadata. The satellite-based observations provide a  unique perspective of the entire planet through the measurement and compilation of reflected light waves coming from vegetation on the Earth’s surface.

The raw satellite data is converted into a vegetation index called the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). The sensors that collect NVDI data are known as the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRRR), and these sensors are on board the NOAA polar-orbiting weather satellites. The data is available from a continuously updated database at a resolution of 8-km from 1982-present or at a resolution of 1-km from 1989-present.

This data is being used by the National Phenology Network (NPN) — a group of government agencies, educatiors, students and citizen scientists — that I reported on earlier.

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