Search for: All records

As of 03/03/2024, the Sevilleta Long-Term Ecological Research Program is equipped with a total of 65 digital RGB cameras, or PhenoCams, across the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge. These cameras are installed on eddy covariance flux towers and at a number of precipitation manipulation experiments to track vegetation phenology and productivity across dryland ecotones. PhenoCams have been paired with eddy covariance flux tower data at the site since 2014, while some Mean-Variance Experiment PhenoCams were installed as recently as June 2023. For information on PhenoCam data processing and formatting, see Richardson et al., 2018, Scientific Data (https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2018.28), Seyednasrollah et al., 2019, Scientific Data (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-019-0229-9), and the PhenoCam Network web page (https://phenocam.nau.edu/webcam/). The PhenoCam Network uses imagery from digital cameras to track vegetation phenology and seasonal changes in vegetation activity in diverse ecosystems across North America and around the world. Imagery is uploaded to the PhenoCam server hosted at Northern Arizona University, where it is made publicly available in near-real time, every 30 minutes from sunrise to sunset, 365 days a year. The data are processed using simple image analysis tools to yield a measure of canopy greenness, from which phenological metrics are extracted, characterizing the start and end of the growing season. These transition dates have been shown to align well with on-the-ground observations at various research sites. Long-term PhenoCam data can be used to track the impact of climate variability and change on the rhythm of the seasons.