Plant communities and Uncrewed Aerial Systems data in Northern Alaska (2019-2022)

Multispectral imagery (MS), Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data, and plot-level species abundance observations were used to map plant community heterogeneity across four drained lake basins on the North Slope of Alaska. Species abundance was measured at 149 plots (Species.abundance.csv), which were delineated using dGPS (differential Global Positioning System) coordinates. Of these, 97 plots were used for vegetation classification and 49 were reserved for accuracy assessment (GPS_data.csv). DLB_training.zip and DLB_accuracy.zip describe the delineated training and accuracy plots. Aboveground biomass was estimated for each plant community type (Biomass.csv). Environmental variables including active layer depth, organic layer depth, and water table depth were measured at each plot (Environmental.Data.csv). A positive water table depth indicates standing water. MS and LiDAR data were collected with uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) over the four drained lake basins, as described in MSLiDAR.zip. Historic delineations summarizing vegetation and water extent from 1949–2022 were also created, described in Historic_Outlines.zip.