How green the land is, live (PACE) — PACE_OCI_L2_LANDVI_NRT

In plain English

What it measures. A set of vegetation indices, simple numbers that summarize how green, healthy, or stressed plants on the land surface are, including the well-known greenness index NDVI plus newer indices that tap PACE's many color bands.

How it's made. Calculated quickly from surface reflectance recorded by the OCI sensor on NASA's PACE satellite, in a near-real-time mode where calibration is less than optimal.

How & where you'd use it. Useful for watching crops, forests, and droughts and how plant condition changes. Because it is the fast version, users should mind quality limits and cloud masking.

What's measured

BIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › VEGETATION INDEX › CHLOROPHYLL INDEX RED EDGE (CIRE)BIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › VEGETATION INDEX › PHOTOCHEMICAL REFLECTANCE INDEX (PRI)BIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › VEGETATION INDEX › CAROTENOID CONTENT INDEX (CAR)BIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › VEGETATION INDEX › CHLOROPHYLL-CAROTENOID INDEX (CCI)BIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › VEGETATION INDEX › MODIFIED ANTHOCYANIN REFLECTANCE INDEX (MARI)BIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › VEGETATION INDEX › NORMALIZED DIFFERENCE INFRARED INDEX (NDII)LAND SURFACE › LAND USE/LAND COVER › LAND USE/LAND COVER CLASSIFICATION › VEGETATION INDEX › NORMALIZED DIFFERENCE VEGETATION INDEX (NDVI)BIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › VEGETATION INDEX › NORMALIZED DIFFERENCE WATER INDEX (NDWI)BIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › VEGETATION INDEX › NORMALIZED DIFFERENCE SNOW INDEX (NDSI)LAND SURFACE › LAND USE/LAND COVER › LAND USE/LAND COVER CLASSIFICATION › VEGETATION INDEX › ENHANCED VEGETATION INDEX (EVI)LAND SURFACE › LAND USE/LAND COVER › LAND USE/LAND COVER CLASSIFICATION › VEGETATION INDEX › CHLOROPHYLL INDEX RED EDGE (CIRE)LAND SURFACE › LAND USE/LAND COVER › LAND USE/LAND COVER CLASSIFICATION › VEGETATION INDEX › PHOTOCHEMICAL REFLECTANCE INDEX (PRI)LAND SURFACE › LAND USE/LAND COVER › LAND USE/LAND COVER CLASSIFICATION › VEGETATION INDEX › CAROTENOID CONTENT INDEX (CAR)LAND SURFACE › LAND USE/LAND COVER › LAND USE/LAND COVER CLASSIFICATION › VEGETATION INDEX › CHLOROPHYLL-CAROTENOID INDEX (CCI)

Coverage & cadence

Time span2024-03-05 → ongoing
Measured byPACE (OCI)
Processing levelLevel 2
Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
FormatsnetCDF-4
StatusACTIVE

What you can do with it

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

Official description

The Ocean Biology DAAC produces near real-time (NRT) products using the best-available combination of ancillary data from meteorological and ozone data. As such, the inputs and the calibration used are less than optimal. Near real-time products provide a snapshot of the data during a short time period within a single orbit. LANDVI suite provides vegetation and land-surface indices derived from surface reflectance. Six of the indices are heritage, and four are hyperspectral-enabled. Users should see documentation for more details. Users should also note that the L3M product is masked for clouds. Geophysical variables in this suite include: - ndvi — Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (unitless) - evi — Enhanced Vegetation Index (unitless) - cire — Chlorophyll Index Red Edge (unitless) - pri — Photochemical Reflectance Index (unitless) - car — Carotenoid Content Index (unitless) - cci — Chlorophyll–Carotenoid Index (unitless) - mari — Anthocyanin Reflectance Index (unitless) - ndii — Normalized Difference Infrared Index (unitless) - ndwi — Normalized Difference Water Index (unitless) - ndsi — Normalized Difference Snow Index (unitless) ARRAY(0x564c1fa1b340)

Get the data

pace_oci_l2_landvi_nrt_access.py

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

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="PACE_OCI_L2_LANDVI_NRT",
    version="3.1",
    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 OB_CLOUD

Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.

Official links

Earthdata Search allows users to search, discover, visualize, refine, and access NASA Earth Observation data. GET DATA
View the version history of this product. VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
NASA's Ocean Color Web - Data Distribution Site GET DATA
PACE Homepage VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
OCI Homepage VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
Satellite data procesing can be difficult. We're here to help! Visit the Oceandata Help Hub to navigate learning content for accessing visualizing, and analyzing data products. VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
Sample data file for processing level L2 VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document for Land Vegetation Indices - Near Real-time (NRT) VIEW RELATED INFORMATION