Skip to main content
NSF NEON, Operated by Battelle

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
      • Contact NEON Biorepository
      • Field Offices
    • User Accounts
    • Staff
    • Code of Conduct

    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)
    • Data Themes
      • Biogeochemistry
      • Ecohydrology
      • Land Cover and Processes
      • Organisms, Populations, and Communities
    • Samples & Specimens
      • Discover and Use NEON Samples
        • Sample Types
        • Sample Repositories
        • Sample Explorer
        • Megapit and Distributed Initial Characterization Soil Archives
      • 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
        • Optimizing the Observational Sampling Designs
    • 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 Bundles
      • Data Product Revisions and Releases
        • Release 2021
        • Release 2022
        • Release 2023
        • Release 2024
        • Release-2025
      • 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
    • 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
    • Research Support Services
      • Field Site Coordination
      • Letters of Support
      • Mobile Deployment Platforms
      • Permits and Permissions
      • AOP Flight Campaigns
      • Research Support FAQs
      • Research Support Projects
    • Funding Opportunities

    Resources

  • Get Involved
    • Advisory Groups
      • Science, Technology & Education Advisory Committee
      • Technical Working Groups
    • Upcoming Events
    • NEON Ambassador Program
      • Exploring NEON-Derived Data Products Workshop Series
    • Research and Collaborations
      • Environmental Data Science Innovation and Inclusion Lab
      • Collaboration with DOE BER User Facilities and Programs
      • EFI-NEON Ecological Forecasting Challenge
      • NEON Great Lakes User Group
      • NEON Science Summit
      • NCAR-NEON-Community Collaborations
        • NCAR-NEON Community Steering Committee
    • Community Engagement
      • How Community Feedback Impacts NEON Operations
    • Science Seminars and Data Skills Webinars
      • Past Years
    • Work Opportunities
      • Careers
      • Seasonal Fieldwork
      • Internships
        • Intern Alumni
    • Partners

    Get Involved

  • My Account
  • Search

Search

Impact

  • Observatory Blog
  • Case Studies
  • Papers & Publications
  • Newsroom

Breadcrumb

  1. Impact
  2. Observatory Blog
  3. Teaming Up to Scale Up: Laying the Groundwork for a NEON-NASA Collaboration

Teaming Up to Scale Up: Laying the Groundwork for a NEON-NASA Collaboration

October 5, 2011

NEON’s Airborne Observation Platform (AOP) team went to unusual heights in late September, taking only ground-based observations in the first of several planned collaborations with NASA. The team traveled to California’s San Joaquin Valley and southern Sierra Nevada to collect ground-based spectrometer and atmospheric measurements in parallel with a flyover of the same area with an airborne NASA spectrometer. NEON’s participation in NASA’s Hyperspectral Infrared Imager (HyspIRI) Early Climate Data flight campaign is a unique opportunity to work with the NASA HyspIRI team to obtain spectroscopic data that is mutually beneficial to the science pursuits of both programs.

In partnering with other research experts such as NASA to acquire ground validation and vegetation data as part of this flight campaign, NEON will further refine its protocols, begin establishing baseline vegetation information for the NEON sites in this domain, and acquire a combined field and airborne data set suitable for developing regional-to-continental scaling methodologies Activities during this particular mission included: (1) identification and characterization of ground sites for radiometric calibration, (2) use of a field spectrometer to provide ground truth radiometric calibration data, and (3) identification and mapping of plant species and tree stands using the field spectrometer. The ground-based measurements collected by the NEON AOP team can be used to calibrate the campaign data. The two data sets may also help NEON understand how different vegetation properties may be derived from remotely sensed data. A proposed flight campaign with the NASA Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) flying at high altitude would obtain further data over California during the next few years. The campaign data would be used to demonstrate the utility of HyspIRI data and to begin developing geophysical science tools suitable for use by NEON, HyspIRI and other scientists over a broad range of ecosystems.

In the near future, NEON expects to fly waveform LiDAR and its own visible/shortwave-infrared imaging spectrometer aboard a Twin Otter plane at low altitude over additional NEON sites to obtain high-resolution data sets. The combination of ground-based spectral data, LiDAR information, and spectroscopic information collected by NEON and NASA remote sensing instruments provides a multi-scale data set ideal for use in addressing data scaling issues critical to the NEON mission of studying the impacts of land use, invasive species and climate change at continental scale.

Share

Related Posts:

Featured Expert: Olivia Chapman

May 27, 2025

Olivia Chapman holding a hedgehog at night

Update: Survey Results and Pilot Study - Planned changes to mosquito pathogen status data product (DP1.10041.001)

March 26, 2025

AOP Data Availability Notification – Release 2025

January 10, 2025

NSF NEON, Operated by Battelle

Follow Us:

Join Our Newsletter

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

Subscribe Now

Footer

  • About Us
  • Newsroom
  • Contact Us
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Careers
  • Code of Conduct

Copyright © Battelle, 2025

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

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