Ground-based biomass, Leaf Area Index (LAI) & Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) measurements, Prudhoe Bay, Alaska (AGC Data Report 24-02)

This data report includes measurements of biomass, leaf area index (LAI), and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) obtained from permanent vegetation plots representative of common vegetation types at study sites near Deadhorse, Alaska. Numerous characteristics of Arctic vegetation—including biomass, productivity, leaf area, chlorophyll content, and fractional cover of vegetation—are routinely assessed using ground-level and satellite-based spectral vegetation indices. These data were collected to help assess the relationships between satellite-derived spectral data and ground-level measurements of vegetation and site factors.
The focus here is on the variation of biomass, LAI, and NDVI across the site-moisture gradient in nonacidic tundra at the boundary between Bioclimate Subzones C and D—or the approximate transitional band between the High and Low Arctic, where the zonal vegetation is predominantly graminoid, prostrate dwarf-shrub, or moss tundra with few erect shrubs. This report complements earlier studies that focused on trends in biomass, LAI, and NDVI in mesic (zonal) vegetation across the full Arctic summer temperature gradient in North America and Europe.
Biomass, LAI and NDVI data were collected from permanent vegetation plots at the Natural Ice-Rich Permafrost Observatory (NIRPO) site, where there are extensive plot-based and map data that portray the surficial geology, landforms, permafrost, soils and vegetation across the full local site-moisture gradient. LAI and NDVI data were also collected from the nearby Colleen and Airport roadside-disturbance study sites. Data from these sites are included without analysis because of the lack of biomass data at the roadside sites.
Data tables in csv format are archived in an accompanying dataset titled "Ground-based biomass, LAI & NDVI measurements, Prudhoe Bay, Alaska (Data from the 2023 field season)."