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Observatory Blog

Collage of people featured in blogs
Category
Data Notification

Water Chemistry External Lab Data Transformed from Wide to Long Format

September 10, 2020

All water chemistry external lab data have been transformed from wide format to long format; the "externalLabData_pub" table has been replaced with the "externalLabDataByAnalyte_pub" table.

Getting to Know the NEON Domains: Northeast

September 9, 2020

From the mountains of Maine to the streets of Manhattan, the Northeast (Domain 01) contains something for everyone. The Domain features a variety of natural habitats as well as some of the largest and oldest urban areas in the U.S. The NEON field sites in Massachusetts and New Hampshire provide opportunities to study how these ecosystems are responding to pressures from climate change, invasive species, and human activities.

Case Study

The Answers (to Fungal Spore Dispersal) Are Blowing in the Wind

September 2, 2020

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are found in nearly every ecosystem, quietly helping plants absorb nutrients from the soil. Dr. Bala Chaudhary wants to build a better model of how these vital ecosystem players disperse across the continent. She is using NEON’s Assignable Assets program to examine the role of aerial dispersal in AM fungal movement.

Bala Chaudhary, 2020 AA installation tour
Case Study

What Can a Hurricane Tell Us About Soil Health Metrics?

August 26, 2020

Dr. Zachary Kayler , an assistant professor in the Department of Soil and Water Systems at the University of Idaho, used NEON soil samples to test the ability of a widely-used soil health metric to detect changes from an extreme weather event - Hurricane Maria - in Puerto Rico.

Data Notification

Quality Assurance Updates and Fixes to 2017 AOP Data

August 19, 2020

Sites flown in 2017 did not have a uniform QAQC document available for the L3 tiles – a data quality measure implemented at the start of the 2018 flight season. As of August 19, 2020, these data have been corrected and available for download.

Data Notification

Bundling Terrestrial Biogeochemistry Data Products

August 13, 2020

In order to improve usability of the Observational System terrestrial biogeochemistry data products, we are repackaging several data products to deliver all of the relevant data for sample sets in one download. We hope this improves the overall user experience for NEON terrestrial biogeochemistry data products.

Data Notification

NEON aquatic dissolved oxygen sensors percent saturation normalized to sea level pressure

August 13, 2020

NEON has begun the process of reconfiguring the multisondes to report DO % saturation relative to local atmospheric pressure, which will be published as a new parameter in the water quality data product. In the interim, NEON has developed the localPressureDO R-package.

Spotlight

Women in Ecology – Monica Papes

August 12, 2020

Dr. Monica Papes, assistant professor and Spatial Analysis Lab Director at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, spoke with us about how an encouraging student advisor provided her with opportunities that changed the focus of her research, and how a more diverse department helps her to feel confident about her place in academia.

Monica Papes

What Happens to Ecology When Humans Can’t Get to the Field?

August 5, 2020

Can technology fill in the missing pieces when humans can’t get to the field? While there will almost certainly be data gaps for NEON and other large-scale ecological programs this year, automated instrument programs can still provide a lot of ecological insights. In the future, emerging technologies such as drones, smart sensors, and robots could help ecologists collect field data even under challenging circumstances.

Flux tower in the snow at TOOL
Data Notification

New Version of neonUtilities (v1.3.6)

July 29, 2020

neonUtilities 1.3.6 is now available on CRAN! Updating is recommended.

Get Ready for the North American Monsoon!

July 22, 2020

The NEON field sites in the Desert Southwest Domain (D14) collect data that can help researchers better understand how the monsoon impacts the ecology of the southwestern deserts and monitor how the monsoon season may be changing over time.

Data Notification

Rodent-borne Pathogen Data Product Scope Change

July 21, 2020

NEON recently obtained approval to begin testing small mammal blood and ear tissue samples for tick-borne pathogens rather than hantaviruses. This change will be reflected in the data product beginning in the 2020 field season.

Case Study

Mapping the Aftermath of a Hurricane

July 15, 2020

Jeffery Cannon, a Forest Management Scientist at The Jones Center, is using remote sensing data from the NEON program to understand how longleaf pine forests are impacted by and recover from major weather events. He and his colleagues will use the results to develop tools to help forest managers plan restoration and conservation efforts.

Getting to Know the NEON Domains: Northern Rockies

July 8, 2020

From the glaciers of Glacier National Park to the geysers of Yellowstone, the Northern Rockies Domain (D12) is home to some of the most stunning landscapes in the U.S. Sprawling across 290,000 km2 (112,000 square miles) of western Montana, Idaho, and northwestern Wyoming, the Domain boasts more than 20 national parks and forests and millions of acres of protected wilderness.

Yellowstone Tower and instrument hut in the field
Data Notification

Resolved: Faulty Algorithm in Windspeed and Direction Above Water On-Buoy (DP1.20059.001)

July 6, 2020

Update to: Faulty algorithm in Windspeed and direction above water on-buoy (DP1.20059.001). Buoy wind speed and direction data have been reprocessed

Data Notification

Timestamp Mismatch Between the Picarro G2131 and L2130 Instruments

July 6, 2020

We have recently discovered multiple instances where timestamps became out of sync between the Picarro G2131 and L2130 instruments and computers, and what was assigned to the data points upon transmission to NEON Headquarters. We are raising the science review flag for the affected time periods and investigating the possibility of data correction.

Data Notification

Update 4: Microbial Community Composition Data Products Being Reprocessed

July 6, 2020

This is an update to past posts about microbial community composition data products. We are developing an in-house data processing pipeline to generate the microbial community composition data products.

Data Notification

LI-840 Infrared Gas Analyzer Downtime Resulting in Data Flags and Gaps

July 6, 2020

The LI-840 Infrared Gas Analyzer requires more maintenance and has an observed failure rate higher than other NEON sensors measuring atmospheric carbon dioxide and water vapor. This has led to multiple data gaps and periods of flagged data. We are investigating the issue further.

Upcoming changes to NEONScience.org

July 2, 2020

Over the next few weeks, you will notice that we’re freshening up our website to make it easier for you to find the information and data you need.

preview site screenshot
Spotlight

Women in Ecology – Jennifer Cotton

July 1, 2020

Jennifer Cotton , an assistant professor in the Department of Geological Sciences at California State University Northridge, who specializes in paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental reconstructions of terrestrial ecosystems, shares with us her experiences with mentorship, both as a mentee and as a source of support and inspiration for her students.

Jennifer Cotton

AmeriFlux and the NEON Program Join Forces for Eddy Covariance Data

June 24, 2020

The NEON program has now made data from its 47 flux towers available through the AmeriFlux data portal. This will allow researchers to synthesize data from the NEON flux towers with data from other towers across the AmeriFlux network.

The tower at BONA
Case Study

What’s That Tree? This Neural Net Can Tell You

June 17, 2020

Andrew Fricker, used remote sensing data from the NEON Airborne Observation Platform to train a neural net to classify tree species in a Sierra Nevada forest. He and his coauthors describe their approach in Remote Sensing: “A Convolutional Neural Network Classifier Identifies Tree Species in Mixed-Conifer Forest from Hyperspectral Imagery.”

Andrew Fricker trained a Convolution Neural Network (CNN) to identify trees at TEAK
Data Notification

Instrumented Data Reprocessed

June 11, 2020

The full timeseries of most instrumented data products (exceptions below) were reprocessed with the most recent algorithms, quality control thresholds, and/or other metadata to improve overall data coverage and quality.

Data Notification

Spurious trace precipitation in Primary Precipitation data product (DP1.00006.001)

June 11, 2020

A review of the precipitation data product (part of DP1.00006.001) identified that spurious trace precipitation is recorded frequently for all primary precipitation sensors (weighing gauges). We are working on additional quality control algorithms in order to detect and remove spurious trace events in the primary precipitation data product.

Case Study

Examining the Drivers of Forest Productivity

June 11, 2020

Chris Gough, an associate professor of biology at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), is using data from the NEON program to explore relationships between forest structure, biodiversity, and other characteristics and their ability to sequester carbon. His collaborative work with PIs from the University of Connecticut and Purdue University was recently published in Ecology: “High Rates of Primary Production in Structurally Complex Forests."

Cove forests of Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Data Notification

Update: Notice of incorrect soil CO2 concentration data (DP1.00095.001)

June 11, 2020

A fix has been developed for the issue of missing atmospheric pressure corrections for the soil CO2 concentration data product (DP1.00095.001). Previously published soil CO2 concentration data has been flagged and corrected data are expected to be published by July.

Data Notification

Resolved: Correction of 2D wind direction data

June 8, 2020

Previously, we identified an issue with the 2D anemometers on the NEON towers. The data have been reprocessed, and, the corrected data will be available via the data portal in July 2020.

Data Notification

Faulty algorithm in Windspeed and direction above water on-buoy (DP1.20059.001)

June 5, 2020

NEON recently discovered an error in the algorithm that creates the Wind speed and direction above water on-buoy (DP1.20059.001) data product. Data from the corrected algorithm will be republished following a large data republication effort.

Getting to Know the NEON Domains: Ozarks Complex

June 3, 2020

The Ozarks Complex (Domain 08) takes its name from the Ozark Mountains and Plateau, but this diverse Domain contains more than just mountains. Stretching across the southern U.S. from eastern Oklahoma and Texas to western Georgia, D08 supports a variety of ecosystems ranging from upland hardwood forests to coastal floodplains. The NEON program field sites in Alabama provide a window into watershed dynamics in the southeastern U.S.

View of the LENO tower from a drone
Case Study

Modeling the Spread of Ticks—And the Diseases They Carry

May 27, 2020

Understanding why tick populations are increasing, and why some species are spreading into new geographic areas, is of critical importance to public health. In a recent study, researchers used NEON data to develop a model of tick population dynamics at the Ordway Swisher Biological Station field site.

Field technician conducting a tick drag amongst trees

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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.