Skip to main content
NSF NEON | Open Data to Understand our Ecosystems logo

Main navigation

  • About Us
    • Overview
      • Spatial and Temporal Design
      • History
    • Vision and Management
    • Advisory Groups
      • Science, Technology & Education Advisory Committee
      • Technical Working Groups (TWGs)
    • FAQ
    • Contact Us
      • Field Offices
    • User Accounts
    • Staff

    About Us

  • Data & Samples
    • Data Portal
      • Explore Data Products
      • Data Availability Charts
      • Spatial Data & Maps
      • Document Library
      • API & GraphQL
      • Prototype Data
      • External Lab Data Ingest (restricted)
    • Samples & Specimens
      • Discover and Use NEON Samples
        • Sample Types
        • Sample Repositories
        • Sample Explorer
        • Megapit and Distributed Initial Characterization Soil Archives
        • Excess Samples
      • Sample Processing
      • Sample Quality
      • Taxonomic Lists
    • Collection Methods
      • Protocols & Standardized Methods
      • Airborne Remote Sensing
        • Flight Box Design
        • Flight Schedules and Coverage
        • Daily Flight Reports
          • AOP Flight Report Sign Up
        • Camera
        • Imaging Spectrometer
        • Lidar
      • Automated Instruments
        • Site Level Sampling Design
        • Sensor Collection Frequency
        • Instrumented Collection Types
          • Meteorology
          • Phenocams
          • Soil Sensors
          • Ground Water
          • Surface Water
      • Observational Sampling
        • Site Level Sampling Design
        • Sampling Schedules
        • Observation Types
          • Aquatic Organisms
            • Aquatic Microbes
            • Fish
            • Macroinvertebrates & Zooplankton
            • Periphyton, Phytoplankton, and Aquatic Plants
          • Terrestrial Organisms
            • Birds
            • Ground Beetles
            • Mosquitoes
            • Small Mammals
            • Soil Microbes
            • Terrestrial Plants
            • Ticks
          • Hydrology & Geomorphology
            • Discharge
            • Geomorphology
          • Biogeochemistry
          • DNA Sequences
          • Pathogens
          • Sediments
          • Soils
            • Soil Descriptions
    • Data Notifications
    • Data Guidelines and Policies
      • Acknowledging and Citing NEON
      • Publishing Research Outputs
      • Usage Policies
    • Data Management
      • Data Availability
      • Data Formats and Conventions
      • Data Processing
      • Data Quality
      • Data Product Revisions and Releases
        • Release 2021
        • Release 2022
        • Release 2023
      • NEON and Google
      • Externally Hosted Data

    Data & Samples

  • Field Sites
    • About Field Sites and Domains
    • Explore Field Sites
    • Site Management Data Product

    Field Sites

  • Impact
    • Observatory Blog
    • Case Studies
    • Spotlights
    • Papers & Publications
    • Newsroom
      • NEON in the News
      • Newsletter Archive
      • Newsletter Sign Up

    Impact

  • Resources
    • Getting Started with NEON Data & Resources
    • Documents and Communication Resources
      • Papers & Publications
      • Document Library
      • Outreach Materials
    • Code Hub
      • Code Resources Guidelines
      • Code Resources Submission
      • NEON's GitHub Organization Homepage
    • Learning Hub
      • Science Videos
      • Tutorials
      • Workshops & Courses
      • Teaching Modules
      • Faculty Mentoring Networks
      • Data Education Fellows
    • Research Support and Assignable Assets
      • Field Site Coordination
      • Letters of Support
      • Mobile Deployment Platforms
      • Permits and Permissions
      • AOP Flight Campaigns
      • Excess Samples
      • Assignable Assets FAQs
    • Funding Opportunities

    Resources

  • Get Involved
    • Advisory Groups
      • Science, Technology & Education Advisory Committee
      • Technical Working Groups
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
    • NEON Ambassador Program
    • Collaborative Works
      • EFI-NEON Ecological Forecasting Challenge
      • NCAR-NEON-Community Collaborations
      • NEON Science Summit
      • NEON Great Lakes User Group
    • Community Engagement
    • Science Seminars and Data Skills Webinars
    • Work Opportunities
      • Careers
      • Seasonal Fieldwork
      • Postdoctoral Fellows
      • Internships
        • Intern Alumni
    • Partners

    Get Involved

  • My Account
  • Search

Search

Overview

  • Spatial and Temporal Design
  • History

Breadcrumb

  1. About Us
  2. Overview
  3. History

History

Landscape at the OAES field site

A Telescope Trained on Earth

The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) was conceived in the late 20th century as an instrument to advance the ability of scientists to examine and understand the interactions between life and the environment at the scale of an entire continent. Since then, technology and research tools have rapidly evolved to support science at a scale that hardly anyone imagined a generation ago.

Hundreds of scientists and engineers have contributed their expertise to plan, design, and operate a grand instrument that can harness the power of networked technology to gather and provide high-quality information on interactions between land, life, water, and climate across a continent and over the course of a human generation. The insights gleaned from NEON data and tools can inform decisions at the national and community levels that will impact natural resource management and human well-being for generations to come.

The First Big Ecology Project

The NEON program is the first life science project to be constructed solely with National Science Foundation (NSF) Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC) funding. This type of funding is reserved for national or international projects such as space telescopes and particle accelerators that advance the boundaries of science and engineering and generate data and resources to support the work of hundreds or thousands of researchers over several decades.

A Brief History

The NEON program could not have become a reality without contributions from many dedicated scientists to conceptualize and design the Observatory. As early as 1999, ecologists and biologists were meeting to discuss a need for a Biodiversity Observation Network (BON). By 2000, the idea had developed into a more comprehensive "ecological observatory network" that would address continental-scale questions. Ideas for NEON officially began to gel in 2000 with a series of workshops that continued until 2005. An initial plan for NEON was completed in 2006.

Over the next five years the NEON design, plan, and budget were formally reviewed and revised multiple times until NSF, the National Science Board, and Congress approved funds to build NEON in 2011.

After the management of the NEON program was contracted to Battelle in 2016, construction of the Observatory was completed in early 2019. The completed Observatory includes 81 field sites and an airborne observation platform as well as the information infrastructure needed to gather data and metadata from sensors and field sampling, ensure data quality, process the information into data products, and deliver those products to users via an online portal. Subsequently, NEON entered its operations phase in the summer of 2019.

First day of field deployment at  the CPER field site

First day of field deployment at the CPER field site.

 

 

NEON Logo

Follow Us:

Join Our Newsletter

Get updates on events, opportunities, and how NEON is being used today.

Subscribe Now

Footer

  • My Account
  • About Us
  • Newsroom
  • Contact Us
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Careers

Copyright © Battelle, 2019-2020

The National Ecological Observatory Network is a major facility fully funded by the National Science Foundation.

Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.