The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is a continental-scale ecological observation facility sponsored by the National Science Foundation to gather and synthesize data on the impacts of climate change, land use change and invasive species on natural resources and biodiversity. The mission of NEON is to enable understanding and forecasting by providing infrastructure and consistent methodologies to support research and education in these areas.

NEON operates 81 field sites strategically located across 20 eco-climatic domains across the United States, including 47 terrestrial field sites and 34 freshwater aquatic field sites. When logistically possible, aquatic and terrestrial sites are colocated (i.e. in close proximity) to support understanding of linkages across terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and their interactions with the atmosphere. Core sites The spatial design of the NEON program includes one core terrestrial and one core aquatic site in each of the 20 ecoclimate Domains (with the exception of D20, in Hawaii, which only has a core terrestrial site). These core sites were selected to represent wildlands or more pristine ecosystems with relatively limited human influence within each Domain. As such, many of these sites are in conservation areas or national parks. Gradient sites The gradient sites were selected to provide contrasts with the core sites and enable exploration of scientific questions of cause and effect specific to each Domain. A "gradient," in this case, is a range in a driving variable of ecological change that can be measured across a Domain, such as a gradient of nitrogen and dust deposition, permafrost, invasive species, precipitation, or land use. The gradient sites allow us to evaluate how these differences impact ecosystems within a Domain by comparison with the core wildland site.Aquatic instrument and observation systems are virtually identical between core sites and gradient sites. There are some differences in terrestrial instrumentation between sites (e.g., primary precipitation using a Double Fence Intercomparison Reference (DFIR), shortwave radiation, water vapor isotopes, and sun photometers), which are documented in each of the Data Product Page Descriptions on the NEON Data Portal. More site-specific details are included in the Sensor Position files associated with the data download expanded package. Some terrestrial observational sampling designs (e.g., mammal and mosquito sampling) differ between the core and gradient sites, which are documented within the associated data products' Science Designs and Protocols and Procedures, located on the data product landing pages of the NEON Data Portal.

This data product contains records of land management activities, disturbances, and other incidents of ecological note within all NEON sites

These shapefiles display the watershed boundaries (area), drainage lines, and pour points for NEON Aquatic Field Sites. For most of the sites, NEON's 1 meter Elevation-LiDAR Digital Terrain Model (DTM) was used to derive the watersheds. In cases where NEON data did not provide complete watershed coverage, a 1/3 arc-second (10 meter) resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM) raster, available from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) website, was utilized to provide full coverage of the watershed extent. The watershed boundary defines the perimeter of drainage areas formed by the terrain and other landscape characteristics. The pour point was selected from nearest the downstream most sensor set, primarily NEON’s S2 sensor in wadeable streams, and S1 sensor or water gauge in non-wadeable rivers, and the outlet sensor in lakes.Included in the attribute information are landcover percentages within the watershed boundary from the 2016 (CONUS and AK) and 2001 (PR) National Land Cover Database (NLCD), and soil classification percentages from the Soil Survey Geographic Database (SSURGO) and the State Soil Geographic Database (STATSGO). Soil data were not available or unclassified at the same resolution for every site and, where applicable, are marked as "NoSoilData". A stand-alone csv of NLCD area is also included. Details of the Watershed Delineation for NEON Aquatic Sites can be found in NEON.DOC.005246.

Input data, evaluation data, and results from integrating National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) measurements into single point simulations using the Community Terrestrial Systems Model (CTSM).

The input data atmosphere data (datm) includes NEON meteorological measurements that provide boundary conditions for CTSM simulations. The evaluation data (eval) includes NEON eddy covariance flux data measured at each tower site, which includes energy, water vapor, and CO2 fluxes that at are time regularized with quality assurance and control flags applied. Finally, CTSM model results (ctsm) include monthly and daily history files of select variables simulated by the model at each NEON site. Additional miscellaneous data products (misc) with site information is also provided.

These v2 data were created because we found errors in the values for latitude and longitude of NEON sites tower sites that were being used in CTSM simulations at the following four site: ONAQ, BLAN, ORNL, UNDE. These errors were corrected and sites rerun, with corrected data published here.

The National Science Foundation's National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is a continental-scale observation facility operated by Battelle and designed to collect long-term open access ecological data to better understand how U.S. ecosystems are changing.

Como Creek: Como Creek (COMO) is an aquatic NEON field site located in the Rocky Mountains in north-central Colorado, about 89 km (55 mi.) northwest of Denver. Managed by the U.S. Forest Service, this area has remained relatively undisturbed for the past 50 years with no development, logging, or fire in the 4.9 km2 (1211 acre) watershed. Snowmelt dominates the hydrologic and nutrient flux in this system https://www.neonscience.org/field-sites/como

Select relevant data sets available via NEON. Visit link below for more. 2D wind speed and direction, DP1.00001.001 - 2013- ongoing Barometric pressure, DP1.00004.001 - 2013-ongoing Chemical properties of groundwater, DP1.20092.001 - 2014-ongoing Chemical properties of surface water, DP1.20093.001 - 2012-ongoing Continuous discharge, DP4.00130.001 - 2016-ongoing Discharge field collection, DP1.20048.001 - 2014-ongoing Dissolved gases in surface water, DP1.20097.001- 2014-ongoing Elevation of groundwater, DP1.20100.001 - 2016-ongoing Elevation of surface water, DP1.20016.001 - 2016-ongoing Gauge height, DP1.20267.001 - 2014-ongoing Nitrate in surface water, DP1.20033.001 - 2016-ongoing Riparian composition and structure, DP1.20275.001 - 2015-ongoing Salt-based stream discharge, DP1.20193.001 - 2014-ongoing Sediment chemical and physical properties, DP1.20194.001 - 20140ongoing Single aspirated air temperature, DP1.00002.001 - 2013-ongoing Specific conductivity in groundwater, DP1.20015.001 - 2016-ongoing Stage-discharge rating curves, DP4.00133.001 - 2014-ongoing

And many others.

This includes teaching data subsets that contains spatio-temporal data for the National Ecological Observatory Network's Harvard Forest and San Joaquin Experimental Range (SJER) field sites.The tutorials using these data subset can be found on the NEON Data Skills portal . CONTENTS:NEON-DS-Met-Time-Series.zip: Precipitation, temperature and other variables collected from a flux tower at the NEON Harvard Forest site. NOTE: these data are not collected from the NEON tower.NEON-DS-Site-Layout-Files.zip: A set of shapefiles for the NEON's Harvard Forest field site and US and (some) state boundary layers.NEON-DS-Landsat-NDVI.zip: 2011 NDVI data product provided by USGS cropped to NEON's Harvard Forest and San Joaquin Experimental Range field sites.NEON-DS-Airborne-RemoteSensing.zip: LiDAR data including a canopy height model, digital elevation model and digital surface model for NEON's Harvard Forest and San Joaquin Experimental Range field sites.

NEON field and taxonomic and abundance data for the periphyton (DP1.20166.001), macroinvertebrate (DP1.20120.001), and zooplankton (DP1.20219.001) collection for all aqatic sites, as well as single aspirated air temperature for 15 sites, were downloaded from the NEON data portal. Provisional data, not included in the 2022 data release, are included in this upload. Data are from all 34 aquatic sites across the network. Data are from NEON sources only. NEON is sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and operated under a cooperative agreement by Battelle. This material is based in part upon work supported by NSF through the NEON Program. NEON (National Ecological Observatory Network). Periphyton, seston, and phytoplankton collection (DP1.20166.001). https://data.neonscience.org (accessed March 12, 2022) NEON (National Ecological Observatory Network). Macroinvertebrate collection (DP1.20120.001). https://data.neonscience.org (accessed March 12, 2022) NEON (National Ecological Observatory Network). Zooplankton collection (DP1.20219.001). https://data.neonscience.org (accessed March 12, 2022) NEON (National Ecological Observatory Network). (2022e). Single aspirated air temperature (DP1.00002.001). https://data.neonscience.org (accessed March 12, 2022) NEON field and taxonomic and abundance data for the periphyton (DP1.20166.001), macroinvertebrate (DP1.20120.001), and zooplankton (DP1.20219.001) collection were downloaded from the NEON data portal. Provisional data, not included in the 2021 data release, are included in this upload. Data are from all 34 aquatic sites across the network. Data are from NEON sources only. NEON is sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and operated under cooperative agreement by Battelle. This material is based in part upon work supported by NSF through the NEON Program. NEON (National Ecological Observatory Network). Periphyton, seston, and phytoplankton collection (DP1.20166.001). https://data.neonscience.org (accessed October 6, 2021) NEON (National Ecological Observatory Network). Macroinvertebrate collection (DP1.20120.001). https://data.neonscience.org (accessed October 6, 2021) NEON (National Ecological Observatory Network). Zooplankton collection (DP1.20219.001). https://data.neonscience.org (accessed October 6, 2021)

This collection contains oven-dried canopy foliage collected from NEON terrestrial sites (NEON sample class: cfc_chemistrySubsampling_in.archiveSampleID). Each NEON site conducts canopy foliage sampling once every 5 years and is scheduled to begin sampling close in time to the Aerial Observation Platform (AOP) airborne remote sensing collection at the site. Because of the links with AOP, strong emphasis is placed on collecting sunlit vegetation only. A subset of the Distributed and Tower Base Plots located across the study area are used for canopy foliage sampling. In sites dominated by woody cover (e.g., forests and shrubland), the goal is to sample at least one individual of each species found in the site-level, sunlit canopy. For more common species, replicates are taken spanning whatever gradients are relevant to a site (topography, aspect, stand age, etc.). In high-diversity sites, rare species are sampled only where feasible (e.g., target taxa with sunlit foliage present in a foliar sampling plot). Each site has a target sample number proportional to its canopy diversity. In systems dominated by herbaceous vegetation, bulk herbaceous plant biomass is harvested from a set of assigned plots using randomly positioned clip strips, and the material is analyzed or archived in bulk, meaning not sorted to species. Subsamples for archive are oven-dried at 65 degrees Celsius for at least 48 hours then ground in a Wiley mill to 20 mesh size (sieve opening size = 0.0331 in). Archived samples are stored at room temperature in 20 mL HDPE scintillation vials. See link below for the NEON data product that provides various physico-chemical measurements of these same foliar samples.

47 terrestrial tower sites are an important component of NEON project. In this project, we analyze data and present in a manuscript an overview of NEON’s observational design, field operation, and data processing that yield community resources for the study of surface-atmosphere interactions. Open-source and open-development software for reproducible, extensible and portable data analysis includes the eddy4R family of R-packages underlying the EC data product generation.

The area upwind of the tower from which it is estimated that 90% of the eddy-covariance surface-atmosphere exchange information is sourced over the lifetime of the site.

This collection contains vials of identified mosquitoes stored in bulk (not pathogen tested) from CO2 trapping at terrestrial sites (NEON sample class: mos_archivepooling_in.archiveVialIDList). When adult mosquitoes are active, sampling occurs (via CDC light traps) every two weeks at core sites and every four weeks at gradient sites. A sampling bout consists of one trapping night and the following day for up to ten plots per site. Following collection, samples are sent to a professional taxonomist where a subsample of each catch generated from each trap is identified to species and sex. Starting with samples collected in field year 2025, bloodfed mosquitos are archived seperately, but samples collected prior to 2025 may contain bloodfed mosquitos. Vials containing identified mosquitoes are archived in 2, 5, 10, or 15 mL cryovials in liquid nitrogen, or at -80 for samples collected before 2020. See related links below for protocols and NEON related data products.

NEON field sites surveyed: San Joaquin Experiment Range (SJER), Soaproot Saddle (SOAP), Providence Creek (PROV), and Teakettle (TEAK) Geographic Characteristics: The primary objectives of the 2013 combined airborne and field campaign were to test flight operations and nominal flight collection parameters and obtain a dataset supporting spatial/temporal scaling studies underway as part of NASA's HyspIRI Airborne Campaign. AOP surveyed three NEON terrestrial sites and one aquatic site located in central California, extending over a large elevation/climate gradient from the southern foothills to the mixed conifer forest zone of the Sierra Nevada. These sites cover diverse ecological sub-regions ranging from open woodland dominated by oaks and foothill pine at the San Joaquin Experiment Range core site (SJER), mixed conifer/deciduous forest at the Soaproot Saddle relocatable site (SOAP) and Providence Creek aquatic site (PROV), and red fir forest at the Teakettle relocatable site (TEAK). Supporting ground measurements of field spectral data, vegetation structure data, and foliar samples were made in a subset of sites and in conjunction with the airborne observations. For full details about this campaign, read NEON Technical Memo TM-005. - See more at: Neon Inc.

The NEON Level 1 Slant Range Waveform LiDAR data product, NEON.DOM.SITE.DP1.30001, provides a geolocated waveform for each laser pulse in a binary output format. Waveform data is available for the San Joaquin Experiment Range (SJER), Soaproot Saddle (SOAP), and Teakettle (TEAK) field sites via the following links:

• SJER
• SOAP
• TEAK
• NEON_Data_Delivery_Letter.pdf
• NEON_AOP_Waveform_product_description_June2015.docx

Aboveground biomass (AGB) estimates from individual tree diameters scaled to whole tree biomass using generalized allometric equations for 35 National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) sites within the United States and Puerto Rico. The data set includes 93,971 unique individuals of 478 different species in 1,216 terrestrial observation plots for 245,245 biomass estimates between the years 2014 to 2023. See https://github.com/atkinsjeff/NEONForestAGB for more detailed information.

This collection contains belowground biomass samples collected from the megapit at each terrestrial site (NEON sample class: mpr_perrootsample_in.archiveID). Each site is sampled a single time at the initiation of the site. At each site, a soil pit is dug in the dominant soil type to a maximum depth of 2 m. On the exposed face of the soil pit, a tape measure visually divides the soil profile into 10 cm depth increments. Each soil pit has three vertically-oriented sampling profiles, roughly corresponding to the left, center, and right of the pit sampling face. These profiles are referred to as profiles number 1, 2 and 3, respectively. From each profile, a block of soil is removed from each 10 cm depth increment, starting from the surface down to 100 cm. Once a depth of 100 cm is reached, each profile is divided into 20 cm depth increments. By the end of sampling, up to 45 soil samples are collected. Roots are sieved and then divided into four categories distinguishing between status (alive or dead) and size (> 2mm and < 2 mm, unless otherwise noted). After oven-drying at 65 degrees Celsius for at least 48 hours, dry mass is recorded, then samples are ground and sent for analysis of carbon and nitrogen concentrations and stable isotopes. If there is any material leftover, sample biomass is archived in 20 mL scintillation vials (glass or HDPE) and stored at room temperature. See link below for the NEON data product that provides mass as well as carbon and nitrogen concentrations and stable isotopes of these same root samples.

This data includes the data used to make Figures 1 and 2 in the manuscript.

For Figure 1, we downloaded the titles from publications listed on the NEON publication website (https://www.neonscience.org/impact/papers-publications). Then, we imported the .csv (NEON_Word_Cloud_Data.csv) with the publication titles to the wordart.com software program which created the word cloud from this text. Settings such as word choice, spacing, font, and color were chosen manually. Only the most frequently appearing words (top ~⅓ of the list) were included in the figure. In addition to connecting words such as “and”, words part of NEON’s title (“National”, “Ecological”, “Observatory”, “Network”) were excluded from the final figure.

For Figure 2, we obtained the perimeter data (Chimney_Tops_2_fire.shp) for the Chimney Tops 2 fire from MTBS perimeter data (https://www.mtbs.gov/direct-download). We downloaded the NEON AOP flight boundary for the Great Smoky Mountains NEON site (GRSM_NEON_AOP....

This collection contains subsamples of Carabid adults from pitfall sampling from a single trap (NEON sample class: bet_sorting_in.subsampleID.bet). Ground beetles are sampled using pitfall traps (16 oz deli containers filled with 150 or 250 mL of propylene glycol). Four (pre-2018) or 3 (2018 and beyond) traps are deployed in each of 10 (pre-2023) or 6 (2023 and beyond) plots at each terrestrial NEON site, with traps arrayed approximately 20 meters from the center of the plot. Sampling occurs biweekly throughout the growing season (when temperatures are above 4 degrees C). Following trap collection, all beetles from the family Carabidae are sorted by NEON technicians and identified to species or morphospecies. A subset of collected Carabidae are pointed or pinned, while other specimens (non-pinned/non-pointed carabids, invertebrate bycatch, and vertebrate bycatch) are stored in 95% ethanol for archiving. Regardless of storage method, all collections data are reported at a per trap resolution. A subset of pinned ground beetles (up to 467 per site per year) are sent to an expert taxonomist for secondary identification. Identifications performed on these individuals may be used to estimate uncertainty in parataxonomist identification by NEON technicians. See related links below for protocols and NEON related data products.

This shapefile displays the watershed boundaries for NEON's aquatic wadeable and non-wadeable stream and lake sites. The watershed boundary defines the perimeter of drainage areas formed by the terrain and other landscape characteristics. The pour point was selected nearest the downstream most sensor set, primarily NEON’s S2 sensor in wadeable streams, S1 or stream gauge in non-wadeable rivers, and the outlet sensor in lakes. For most of the sites NEON's 1 meter Elevation-LiDAR Digital Terrain Model (DTM) was used to derive the watersheds. In cases where NEON data did not provide complete watershed coverage, a 1/3 arc-second (10 meter) resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM) raster, available from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) website, was utilized to provide full coverage of the watershed extent. A mosaic dataset was created to combine individual DTM or DEM tiles, and a local projection defined for the dataset. ArcGIS Pro software with the ArcHydro Tools [for] Pro were used to model and delineate the watershed. Attribute Table Information:DomainNum:NEON ecoclimatic domain number. DomainName: NEON ecoclimatic domain name.SiteName: NEON aquatic site name.SiteID: NEON four character site ID for the aquatic site.SiteType:Type of NEON site (e.g. core aquatic or relocatable aquatic).Science: Identifies the primary science theme as they relate to the NEON Grand Challenges (AD[01]) and if the aquatic site is a wadeable or non-wadeable stream, or lake.StateID: The 2 letter abbreviation for the state where the watershed is located.UTM_Zone: The local projected coordinate system for the aquatic site and model processing.WSAreaKm2: Watershed area in kilometers squared for watersheds derived from NEON’s 1 meter Elevation-LiDAR dataset.Source: States if the watershed was not derived from NEON data, these sites are supplemented with the 10 meter National Elevation Dataset.Area_NED: Watershed area in kilometers squared for sites where the watershed was derived from the 10 meter National Elevation Dataset.AOPLiDAR: Name of the Elevation-LiDAR DTM tile from the NEON data portal, includes site ID, year, and month the data was collected.AOP_Flight: Identifies the NEON AOP Flight Boundaries layer showing the extent and priority of airborne acquisition. AOPCoverag: Identifies percent coverage of the NEON AOP flight box over the aquatic watershed.TIS_Dist: Distance in kilometers from the aquatic site pour point to the corresponding terrestrial tower site.TIS_Bear: Bearing in degrees from the aquatic site pour point to the corresponding terrestrial tower site.TIS_WS: States if the corresponding terrestrial tower is within the aquatic watershed.HUC12Name: Name of the Hydrologic Unit Code with twelve digits based on the prominent water or physical feature(s) within the unit. Naming follows the conventions and rules outlined by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) order of priority and if the dominant feature is named in the HU10, the HU12 retains the twelve digit code as the name. HUC12: Hydrologic Unit Code with twelve digits based on the sixth-level (subwatershed) classification designated by the United States Geological Survey. NLCD_(number): Percentage of land cover classifications within the watershed from the National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD) (Table 2). NRCS_(Soil abbreviations): Percentage of soil classifications within the watershed from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) (Table 3).

This is a beta teaching dataset that contains spatio-temporal data for the Harvard Forest and SJER field sites.

CONTENTS: AtmosData.zip: Precipitation, temperature and other variables collected from a flux tower at the NEON Harvard Forest. NOTE: these data are not collected from the NEON tower. boundaryFiles: A set of shapefiles for the Harvard Forest Field Site daylength: daily daylength for the HArvard Forest Field site. Landsat_NDVI: NDVI data product provided by USGS cropped to the Harvard Forest AOI used in the teaching lessons for 2011.

NEON_RemoteSensing: LIdar data including a canopy height model, digital elevation model and digital surface model for the harvard forest field site.

Surface water chemistry data collected from the NEON Domain 3 Ichawaynochaway Creek site before the NEON site was moved to the nearby Flint River. The site was moved because Ichawaynochaway Creek had variable flow ranging from wadeable to non-wadeable conditions, and was designed to be a large river site. The river flow was too variable to implement many of the NEON Aquatic protocols in a way that was standardized with the rest of the river (non-wadeable) sites within the NEON Observatory.