Spectral radiation data for Saddle grid, 1994.

During the summer of 1992 10-m transects were established at each of the Niwot Ridge Saddle grid points, with the exception of grid points 1, 13, 30A, 37, 41, 42, 63, and 71. No transects were set up at those locations because they were essentially barren of vegetation or, in the case of grid point 37, were covered with a willow shrub thicket. Transect locations were chosen so that the vegetation along the transect would be consistent with that in the 1x1-m plot used to characterize the species composition at the corresponding Saddle grid point. These transects were established as part of a study designed to quantify any relationship between spectral emissivity and net primary productivity. Spectral measurements were made, using a PS-II (Analytical Spectral Devices) spectrometer, of approximately 50- x 20-cm plots along a transect immediately prior to it being clip harvested for aboveground biomass determinations. Photographs were taken at the same time that the spectral measurements were made in 1994, but at different times in 1993. The photographs were subsequently used to quantify various cover classes for the harvested portion of the transect. The relationships between these cover classes and vegetation indices derived from the spectral data were explored.