The BOREAS RSS-07 team collected various data sets to develop and validate an algorithm to allow the retrieval of the spatial distribution of LAI from remotely sensed images. Ground measurements of LAI and FPAR absorbed by the plant canopy were made using the LAI-2000 and TRAC optical instruments during focused periods from 09-AUG-1993 to 19-SEP-1994. The measurements were intensive at the NSA and SSA tower sites, but were made just once or twice at auxiliary sites.

Contains Decagon Ceptometer estimates of LAI and fPAR. Contains LI-COR LAI-2000 estimates of leaf area index and mean tip angle.

The BOREAS TF-11 team gathered a variety of data to complement their tower flux measurements collected at the SSA Fen site. These data are LAI measurements made by the TF-11 team throughout the 1995 growing season. The data include the LAI of plants that fall into six categories: total, Carex spp., Betula pumila, Menyanthes trifoliata, Salix spp., and other vascular plants.

The BOREAS RSS-17 team acquired and analyzed imaging radar data from the ESA's ERS-1 over a complete annual cycle at the BOREAS sites in Canada in 1994 to detect shifts in radar backscatter related to varying environmental conditions. This data set consists of dielectric constant profile measurements from selected trees at various BOREAS flux tower sites. The relative dielectric constant was measured at C-band (frequency = 5 GHz) as a function of depth into the trunk of three trees at each site. Measurements were made during April 1994 with an Applied Microwave Corporation field PDP fitted with a 0.358-cm (0.141-inch) diameter coaxial probe tip.

Contains the TF-11 Leaf Area Index (LAI) data collected at the SSA Fen site.

A newly developed ground-based canopy imaging system called an MVI was tested and used by the BOREAS TE-06 team to collect measurements of the canopy gap fraction (sky fraction), canopy gap-size distribution (size and frequency of gaps between foliage in canopy), branch architecture, and leaf angle distribution (fraction of leaf area in specific leaf inclination classes assuming azimuthal symmetry). Measurements of the canopy gap-size distribution are used to derive canopy clumping indices that can be used to adjust indirect LAI measurements made in nonrandom forests. These clumping factors will also help to describe the radiation penetration in clumped canopies more accurately by allowing for simple adjustments to Beer's law. Measurements of the above quantities were obtained at BOREAS NSA OJP site in IFC-2 in 1994, at the SSA OA in July 1995, and at the SSA OBS and SSA OA sites in IFC-2 in 1996. Modeling studies were also performed to further validate MVI measurements and to gain a more complete understanding of boreal forest canopy architecture. By using MVI measurements and Monte Carlo simulations, clumping indices as a function of zenith angle were derived for the three main boreal species studied during BOREAS.

Describes the average data values derived from the multi-vegetation imager used by TE-06 during the BOREAS project.Describes the single point data values derived from the multi-vegetation imager used by TE-06 during the BOREAS project.

Contains dielectric profile measurements taken by RSS-17 at NSA and SSA treed tower sites.

The LAI and canopy closure images over the BOREAS conifer flux tower sites were produced at a spatial resolution of 30 m using the Forest-Light Interaction Model. The data used were obtained by the CASI instrument in high spatial resolution mode in the winter of 1994. Additional high resolution LAI and canopy closure images were produced over the two black spruce flux tower sites using the FLIM-CLUS algorithm. The data are stored in binary image format.

The RSS-04 team collected several data sets related to leaf, plant, and stand physical, optical, and chemical properties. This data set contains leaf area indices and FPAR measurements which were taken at the three conifer sites in the BOREAS SSA during August 1993 and at the jack pine tower flux and a subset of auxiliary sites during July and August 1994. The measurements were made with LAI-2000 and Ceptometer instruments. The measurements were taken for the purpose of model parameterization and to test empirical relationships that were hypothesized between biophysical parameters and remotely sensed data.