Data Notifications

Each year, the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) conducts an annual planning process to align priorities with its budget in close coordination with the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). As part of this process, NEON reviewed the full set of data products, including the use to date, the scientific value for the user community, and their operational costs, resulting in the discontinuation of a select set of products.

Each year, the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) conducts an annual planning process to align priorities with its budget in close coordination with the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). As part of this process, NEON reviewed the full set of data products, including the use to date, the scientific value for the user community, and their operational costs, resulting in the modification of a select set of products.

The calculation error described in a previous Data Notification (Planned correction to alkalinity data in Sediment chemical and physical properties (DP1.20194.001)) that affected alkalinity data has been corrected.

NEON’s annual data release, RELEASE-2026, is now available for download!

The AOP lidar noise data quality issues described in prior data notifications have been resolved across all impacted sites for the lidar and camera data products. Data provided in the 2026 Data Release reflect these quality updates.

Beginning with RELEASE-2026, the Level 4 Continuous discharge (DP4.00130.001) data product has been updated to be a 15-min average. Data at all sites has been updated from Oct 1, 2021 onwards, and at BIGC from Oct 1, 2020 onwards. Prior data will continue to be updated in future releases.

The Water temperature and conductivity in lakes from subsurface moored array of sensors (DP1.20055.001) data product is now available on the NEON data portal.

Due to the migration of Shortwave Radiation (primary pyranometer), DP1.00022.001, to NEON’s new data processing system, shortwave radiation tables will be absent from Summary Weather Statistics, DP4.00001.001, for all provisional data and RELEASE-2026. It is anticipated that the tables will be reincluded in provisional data by June 2026 and the full data history in RELEASE-2027.

Shortwave Radiation (primary pyranometer), DP1.00022.001, has been reprocessed using NEON’s new instrument processing pipeline. All provisional data have been updated, and data for all time and all sites will be updated in RELEASE-2026 (expected to be issued in late January 2026).

As part of the upcoming 2026 NEON Annual Release, AOP is in the process of updating data products with known quality issues, as well as standardizing L3 discrete lidar data and metadata products. It is recommended to defer downloading L3 lidar data products and select AOP data products until the January 2026 Release is available.

NEON DNA Barcoding data products have historically used PCR of the COI gene to provide both a quality check on taxonomic identifications and a dataset for genetic diversity analyses. Moving forward, these data products will focus on the taxonomic confirmation of uncertain species identifications using PacBio sequencing of the COI gene.

Mosquito virus RNA sequencing will proceed using an enrichment probe design to amplify suspected viruses rather than a depletion approach. Pilot results from the depletion approaches resulted in concerns of lack of reproducibility of results across methodologies.

The Campbell Scientific CSAT3 three-dimensional (3D) sonic anemometer used to measure 3D wind speed, direction, and sonic temperature (DP1.00007.001) has been discontinued by the manufacturer. The CSAT3 will be replaced with model CSAT3B through a gradual transition.

The analytical laboratory generating the NEON sediment chemical properties data identified a calculation error affecting all alkalinity data published in Sediment chemical and physical properties (DP1.20194.001) to date. The data are being corrected and are expected to be available in the upcoming January 2026 Data Release.

Data product DP1.00006.001 (Precipitation) has been deprecated, and all non-release data has been removed from the Data Portal. This data product has been split into three separate products, which are current and available.

NEON has initiated the decommissioning of the Dead Lake NEON (DELA) terrestrial gradient site in Domain 08 (AL), at the request of the site host. Instrument Systems (IS) data collection has been discontinued as of Oct. 6, 2025, and Observation Systems (OS) data collection will end in December 2025. Airborne Observation Platform (AOP) data will continue to be collected.

As of Oct. 2025, precipitation data are now split into three individual data products, rather than the combined data product (DP1.00006.001). The three data products are DP1.00044.001: Precipitation - weighing gauge, DP1.00045.001: Precipitation - tipping bucket, and DP1.00046.001: Precipitation – throughfall.

The data product Temperature at Specific Depth in Surface Water (DP1.20264.001) has been reprocessed using an updated algorithm. Current provisional data has been updated and data for all times at all sites will be updated in the 2026 Data Release.

The Dust and Particulate Size Distribution Data Product (DP1.00017.001) has been discontinued. Normal maintenance of the related sensors stopped as of May 2025. The sensors will be decommissioned throughout 2025. Previously collected data will remain available on the NEON data portal.

A new minor update to the neonUtilities R package has been released! Read on to learn more about updates in this version.

A subset of zooplankton count data in data product DP1.20219.001 is incorrectly reported in RELEASE-2025 and all prior releases. The affected count data were recalculated for all 7 NEON lake sites and will be updated in RELEASE-2026. Count data reported in RELEASE-2025 and all prior releases for the affected locations and time periods should not be used for analyses that rely on absolute volumes until the updates have been published on the NEON data portal.

Release of SF 6 as part of the reaeration protocol has been discontinued at all NEON sites. Conservative salt slug releases will continue four times per year.

NEON has revised the mosquito pathogen methodology in response to community input. See this post for updates and a description of the new methodology.

A subset of Zooplankton count data in data product DP1.20219.001 was recalculated for all 7 NEON lake sites and published in the 2025 Data Release.

Announcing corrected timestamps for all Picarro instruments in the 2025 Data Release. The code to resolve the timestamp issues was also deployed to correct past Picarro instrument data timestamps. Rare instances where the code did not perform as expected were flagged and are being addressed.