Global Leaf Area Index from Field Measurements, 1932-2000

Some attempts have been made to detect and flag the outliers in this data set, according to different biome/land cover classes. Needleleaf (coniferous) forests are by far the most commonly measured biome/land cover types in this compilation, with 22% of the measurements from temperate evergreen needleleaf forests, and boreal evergreen needleleaf forests and crops the next most common (about 9% each). About 40% of the records in the data set were published in the past 10 years (1991-2000), with a further 20% collected between 1981 and 1990.

Mean LAI (+/- standard deviation), distributed between 15 biome/land cover classes, ranged from 1.31 +/- 0.85 for deserts to 8.72 +/- 4.32 for tree plantations, with evergreen forests (needleleaf and broadleaf) displaying the highest LAI among the natural vegetation classes. Further information on this data set is available from the link below: Leaf Area Index Data

Citation

Cite this data set as follows: Scurlock, J. M. O., G. P. Asner, and S. T. Gower. 2001. Global Leaf Area Index from Field Measurements, 1932-2000. Available on-line [daac.ornl.gov] from Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, U.S.A.