ORNL DAAC Data Release - WDTS: AVIRIS-Classic Derived Plant Traits by Flight Line, 2013-2018
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2026 1:11 pm America/New_York
The Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center (ORNL DAAC) released a new AVIRIS-Classic derived plant traits dataset for the Western Diversity Time Series (WDTS).
The Western Diversity Time Series (WDTS) is a NASA field investigation focusing on observing California's ecosystems and providing critical information on natural disasters such as volcanoes, wildfires, and drought. WDTS collects seasonal visible to short wave infrared (VSWIR) and thermal infrared (TIR) airborne imagery using instruments including the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS), MODIS/ASTER Airborne Simulator (MASTER), Hyperspectral Thermal Emission Spectrometer (HyTES), and Pushbroom Imager for Cloud and Aerosol Research and Development (PICARD) on a NASA ER-2 high-altitude platform. WDTS aims to provide a benchmark on the state of ecosystems against which future changes can be assessed. WDTS started in 2020 and is a continuation of the HyspIRI Airborne campaign in 2013-2018.
WDTS: AVIRIS-Classic Derived Plant Traits by Flight Line, 2013-2018
This dataset holds maps of 14 foliar functional traits derived from AVIRIS-Classic imagery over the western United States for the Western Diversity Time Series (WDTS) project. Imagery was acquired from 2013-04-10 to 2018-08-16 and a georeferenced, corrected surface reflectance product was developed for WDTS for 87 acquisitions. Foliar traits were derived from the reflectance product by applying partial least squares regression models. These traits include foliar concentrations of nitrogen, cellulose, lignin, fiber, sugar, starch, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, sulfur, phenolics, and nonstructural carbohydrates. In addition, area concentration of chlorophyll A+B and leaf dry mass per area were estimated. The WDTS includes airborne imagery collected at least once per year (but often several times) over large areas of California for almost all years from 2013-2024. The foliar trait products are provided at 15-m resolution for individual flight lines in ENVI format. This dataset will enable multi-temporal analyses of plant functional traits and biodiversity at the ecoregion scale. A related WDTS dataset by Zheng, et al., 2025; WDTS: AVIRIS-Classic Derived Plant Trait Mosaics, 2013-2018, is derived from these individual flight lines.
More information on this dataset and others like it can be found on The Western Diversity Time Series (WDTS) project page.
Citation: Zheng, T., Shafron, E., Ye, Z., Schneider, F. D., Queally, N., Kovach, K. R., Pavlick, R., & Townsend, P. A. (2025). WDTS: AVIRIS-Classic Derived Plant Traits by Flight Line, 2013-2018 (Version 1). ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/2454
The Western Diversity Time Series (WDTS) is a NASA field investigation focusing on observing California's ecosystems and providing critical information on natural disasters such as volcanoes, wildfires, and drought. WDTS collects seasonal visible to short wave infrared (VSWIR) and thermal infrared (TIR) airborne imagery using instruments including the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS), MODIS/ASTER Airborne Simulator (MASTER), Hyperspectral Thermal Emission Spectrometer (HyTES), and Pushbroom Imager for Cloud and Aerosol Research and Development (PICARD) on a NASA ER-2 high-altitude platform. WDTS aims to provide a benchmark on the state of ecosystems against which future changes can be assessed. WDTS started in 2020 and is a continuation of the HyspIRI Airborne campaign in 2013-2018.
WDTS: AVIRIS-Classic Derived Plant Traits by Flight Line, 2013-2018
This dataset holds maps of 14 foliar functional traits derived from AVIRIS-Classic imagery over the western United States for the Western Diversity Time Series (WDTS) project. Imagery was acquired from 2013-04-10 to 2018-08-16 and a georeferenced, corrected surface reflectance product was developed for WDTS for 87 acquisitions. Foliar traits were derived from the reflectance product by applying partial least squares regression models. These traits include foliar concentrations of nitrogen, cellulose, lignin, fiber, sugar, starch, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, sulfur, phenolics, and nonstructural carbohydrates. In addition, area concentration of chlorophyll A+B and leaf dry mass per area were estimated. The WDTS includes airborne imagery collected at least once per year (but often several times) over large areas of California for almost all years from 2013-2024. The foliar trait products are provided at 15-m resolution for individual flight lines in ENVI format. This dataset will enable multi-temporal analyses of plant functional traits and biodiversity at the ecoregion scale. A related WDTS dataset by Zheng, et al., 2025; WDTS: AVIRIS-Classic Derived Plant Trait Mosaics, 2013-2018, is derived from these individual flight lines.
More information on this dataset and others like it can be found on The Western Diversity Time Series (WDTS) project page.
Citation: Zheng, T., Shafron, E., Ye, Z., Schneider, F. D., Queally, N., Kovach, K. R., Pavlick, R., & Townsend, P. A. (2025). WDTS: AVIRIS-Classic Derived Plant Traits by Flight Line, 2013-2018 (Version 1). ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/2454