Phenocams

Phenology is the study of reoccurring life cycle events that are driven by environmental factors. In this case, the targeted events are related to seasonal changes in above canopy and understory vegetation (e.g. onset of growth and leaf senescence). The timing of these events is driven by both short- and long-term variability in climate and is valuable in understanding the effects of climate change.

A "phenocam" is a digital camera capturing time-lapse images of foliage which can be used to generate quantitative measures of plant phenology. Over time, these data provide a near-continuous visual record of canopy change and environmental conditions. NEON uses a Stardot NetCam CS CAM-SEC5IR-B to collect RGB and IR images every 15 minutes at each of its terrestrial and aquatic field sites. Over time, these data will reveal trends in the greening and senescence of trees, herbs, and shrubs.

Phenocam imagery is not only important for tracking plant phenology; NEON scientists also place several snow gauges, appearing as yard sticks sticking out of the ground, within the field of view (FOV) of the lower cameras. Users are able to use the images of these snow gauges to estimate snow depth over the non-growing season. Understanding the dynamics of snow cover are important because snow cover and snow melt have an important influence on things like soil temperature, gas exchange between the soil and the atmosphere, and nutrient cycling.

NEON works closely with the PhenoCam Network and has adopted its standards and protocols for instrumentation and instrument configuration as well as data processing. Specifically, NEON employs the standard PhenoCam Network Stardot NetCam CS CAM-SEC5IR-B in conjunction with the PhenoCam Installation Tool to configure all NEON cameras and ensure high quality data capture across the Observatory. Images collected by NEON's phenocams are uploaded to the PhenoCam Network servers where they are processed into a series of standardized data products.

Sampling Design and Methods

Placement of Phenocams

At terrestrial sites, one phenocam is installed at the top of the met/flux tower to capture above canopy vegetation. One phenocam is installed near the bottom of the tower (typically at 2 m) to collect understory vegetation including snow cover during the winter. Cameras typically face north.

At aquatic sites, one phenocam is installed on the shore facing the aquatic body to capture land-water interface images. Surface water sensor stations, groundwater wells, and meteorological stations are positioned nearby to collect additional automated measurements.

Data Products

Data products related to the 15-minute collection of imagery:

Phenology images (DP1.00033.001)
Snow depth and understory phenology images (DP1.00042.001)
Land-water interface images (DP1.20002.001)

Data products related to ground-based, plant observations found in the imagery:

Plant phenology observations (DP1.10055.001)

Additional data products are available via the PhenoCam network and include:

More information on the standard PhenoCam data products can be found in this publication:

Richardson, A.D., K. Hufkens, T. Milliman, D.M. Aubrecht, M. Chen, J.M. Gray, M.R. Johnston, T.F. Keenan, S.T. Klosterman, M. Kosmala, E.K. Melaas, M.A. Friedl, and S. Frolking. 2018. Tracking vegetation phenology across diverse North American biomes using PhenoCam imagery. Scientific Data 5, Article number: 180028. doi:10.1038/sdata.2018.28

Resources for Working with Phenocam Data

Code Resources: The PhenoCam Network creates and hosts a variety to code and GUI tools to work with phenocam images and to model phenology.
Data Tutorials: Complete the Introduction to working with PhenoCam Images tutorial series.

Collaborating with the Phenocam Network

PhenoCam is one of the largest cooperative, open access networks of phenocam data on Earth. PhenoCam both archives and distributes imagery and derived data products from digital cameras deployed at research sites across North America and around the world. NEON closely follows the PhenoCam protocols to collect phenology image data, and our data are hosted on the Phenocam Gallery , an open access database that provides image data of canopy phenology across the network of PhenoCam sites.

You can also search and access NEON's phenocam data via the NEON Data Portal and NEON data API.