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Full catalog/LAI_Woody_Plants_1231
LAI_Woody_Plants_1231·v1·dataset

Field-measured leafiness of woody plants worldwide (1932-2011)

A Global Database of Field-observed Leaf Area Index in Woody Plant Species, 1932-2011
biosphere NASA ORNL_CLOUD Level 3 CSV
In plain English

What it measures. Leaf area index for woody plants worldwide, a number describing how much leaf surface a forest or shrubland carries (its leafiness), compiled from on-the-ground measurements at over 1,200 sites.

How it's made. Not a satellite product; assembled from field observations reported in 554 scientific publications between 1932 and 2011, filtered to keep clean, representative maximum values and delivered as a spreadsheet.

How & where you'd use it. Serves as a real-world reference for checking and calibrating satellite vegetation estimates and ecosystem models, with extra details like location, elevation, stand age, and dominant species.

What's measured

BIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › LEAF CHARACTERISTICS › LEAF AREA INDEX (LAI)

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span1932-01-01 → 2011-12-31
  • Measured byNOT APPLICABLE (NOT APPLICABLE)
  • Processing levelLevel 3
  • Spatial extent-164.78, -54.2, 175.62, 78.42
  • FormatsCSV
  • StatusCOMPLETE

What you can do with it

  • Map vegetation, forests and biomass
  • Monitor ecosystem productivity and carbon
  • Support habitat and biodiversity studies
Official description

This data set provides global leaf area index (LAI) values for woody species. The data are a compilation of field-observed data from 1,216 locations obtained from 554 literature sources published between 1932 and 2011. Only site-specific maximum LAI values were included from the sources; values affected by significant artificial treatments (e.g. continuous fertilization and/or irrigation) and LAI values that were low due to drought or disturbance (e.g. intensive thinning, wildfire, or disease), or because vegetation was immature or old/declining, were excluded (Lio et al., 2014). To maximize the generic applicability of the data, original LAI values from source literature and values standardized using the definition of half of total surface area (HSA) are included. Supporting information, such as geographical coordinates of plot, altitude, stand age, name of dominant species, plant functional types, and climate data are also provided in the data file. There is one data file in comma-separated (.csv) format with this data set and one companion file which provides the data sources.

Get the data

lai_woody_plants_1231_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="LAI_Woody_Plants_1231",
    version="1",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from ORNL_CLOUD
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.