ORNL DAAC Data Release - Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE)

[ORNL - mtdonova]

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center (ORNL DAAC) released new datasets for the Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) project.

ABoVE: Active Layer Soil Properties and Multispectral Images, Imnavait Creek AK, 2024
This dataset provides active layer soil properties measurements and multi-spectral Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-based imagery from Imnavait Creek, Alaska, USA in 2024 in support of the NASA Arctic and Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) Airborne Campaign. Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was calculated from multispectral images. This dataset provides a characterization of the active layer, supporting analyses of fine scale heterogeneity of soil processes in areas over permafrost and the drivers that influence topsoil organic matter in Arctic foothills tundra.
Bakian-Dogaheh, K., Du, J., Endsley, K. A., Kim, J., De Sobrino, R., Tapia, J. N., Fulweber, R., Young, A. B., Kimball, J. S., & Moghaddam, M. (2026). ABoVE: Active Layer Soil Properties and Multispectral Images, Imnavait Creek AK, 2024 (Version 1). ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/2473

ABoVE: Ground-based Reflectance Spectra of Vegetation at Multiple Sites Across Alaska
This dataset includes ground-based reflectance spectra collected using a Spectral Evolution PSR+ spectroradiometer during July and August of 2018 and 2019. Ground spectra provide high spectral resolution reference measurements for vegetation and surface targets that occur within or near UAV image footprints and across the broader ABoVE Domain in Alaska. Scans were collected using either a leaf clip or contact probe fiber optic, both equipped with an internal tungsten halogen illumination source that minimizes ambient light contamination and provides a stable illumination geometry.
Nelson, P. R. (2026). ABoVE: Ground-based Reflectance Spectra of Vegetation at Multiple Sites Across Alaska (Version 1). ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1980

ABoVE: UAV VNIR Imaging Spectroscopy and Derived Plant Functional Types
This dataset contains orthorectified surface reflectance imagery and derived plant functional type (PFT) classification products generated from Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-mounted Visible and Near-Infrared (VNIR) imaging spectrometers. The imagery were collected across multiple Arctic and boreal sites in Alaska during July and August of 2018 and 2019. The data are high spatial resolution hyperspectral imagery processed to generate spatially explicit maps of PFTs at native UAV resolution.
Nelson, P. R. (2026). ABoVE: UAV VNIR Imaging Spectroscopy and Derived Plant Functional Types (Version 1). ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/2503

Vegetation Height in High Latitude Forests from ICESat-2 and HLS, 2020
This dataset provides predictions of vegetation height for high northern latitude forests at a 30-m spatial resolution for 2020. Prediction of vegetation height used machine learning modeling with random forest by relating NASA's ICESat-2 30-m ATL08 lidar samples to data from Harmonized Landsat/Sentinel-2 (HLS) and the Copernicus GLO30 DEM for each of 3,901 90-km x 90-km tiles. The height predictions cover the extent of high latitude boreal and transitional forests, and shrublands, down to 51.6 degrees N. This extent is guided by the European Space Agency (ESA) WorldCover v1.0 2020 dataset, includes the moss/lichen land cover associated with sparse forests and shrublands at the boreal's cold edge, and extends south down to 51.6 degrees N. The southern limit of these ICESat-2 and HLS-derived maps coincides with the northern observational limit of NASA's Global Ecosystems Dynamics Lidar (GEDI). This dataset is designed both for circumpolar boreal-wide mapping and for filling the northern spatial data gap from the GEDI mission.
Montesano, P. M., Zarringhalam, A., Thomas, N., Neuenschwander, A., Mandel, A., Minor, D., Guenther, E., Hancock, S., Feng, T., Shah, S., & Duncanson, L. (2026). Vegetation Height in High Latitude Forests from ICESat-2 and HLS, 2020 (Version 1). ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/2438

ABoVE: Soil Drainage Maps from L-band SAR across Four Sites in Alaska and Canada
This dataset provides four prototype soil drainage maps (relative soil drainage classes) across four study sites in Alaska and Canada. The relative soil drainage classes were produced from an input time series of L-band HH-polarization SAR imagery from the ALOS-PALSAR or ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 (acquired via a JAXA data grant used for the Red Earth Creek Alberta site). The outputs were coefficients and scores for the functional principal component analysis (FPCA). Field data were used to test the coefficients and scores against in situ soil moisture. The second coefficient was found to be significantly related to the coefficient of variation (CoV) of in situ soil moisture and was used to produce the maps. Once the relationships were established between the CoV of field plot data and the FPCA coefficient, the designated FPCA coefficient layers were used with a quantile classification of seven classes to output relative soil drainage.
Bourgeau-Chavez, L. L., Kozel, N., Brandt, M., Battaglia, M. J., Graham, J. A., Chavez, A. J., & Vander Bilt, D. J. L. (2026). ABoVE: Soil Drainage Maps from L-band SAR across Four Sites in Alaska and Canada (Version 1). ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/2516

Impacts of Permafrost Degradation on Nitrous Oxide Emissions
This dataset contains process-based model simulations of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions and production from natural terrestrial ecosystems across northern high latitudes under baseline and permafrost-thaw conditions. Simulations cover northern high-latitude terrestrial ecosystems from 1969 to 2019 at a spatial resolution of 0.5-degree x 0.5-degree. The dataset was generated using the Terrestrial Ecosystem Model (TEM), a process-based biogeochemical model that explicitly represents terrestrial carbon and nitrogen cycling and incorporates permafrost-related processes. Two simulation scenarios are included: a baseline simulation and a permafrost-thaw simulation. For each scenario, annual gridded outputs include summed N2O net emissions and summed N2O production. The dataset provides information on the spatial and temporal patterns of N2O responses to permafrost degradation and can support studies of nitrogen cycling, ecosystem-climate interactions, climate feedbacks, and model intercomparison analyses.
Yuan, Y., & Zhuang, Q. (2026). Impacts of Permafrost Degradation on Nitrous Oxide Emissions (Version 1). ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/2510

More information on these datasets and others like it can be found on the Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) landing page.