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College of Liberal Arts and Sciences University of Florida

NSF NEON’s annual summer airborne observation campaign is underway!

an aircraft in Gainesville

Dr. Di Yang has been working with the NSF National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) program for the past 14 years.

During that time, she has worked at and visited many of the nation’s NEON sites and was recently named one of seven NEON Ambassadors.

The NEON program is designed to provide long-term, standardized ecological data to understand and forecast the impacts of climate change, land use, and ecosystem dynamics across the United States.

This month, NEON’s annual summer airborne observation campaign is underway. For part of the season, one of the NEON aircraft—equipped with a multispectral, hyperspectral, and LiDAR sensor payload—is based out of the Gainesville airport.

The summer flight campaign supports NEON’s mission by collecting high-resolution airborne data to characterize vegetation structure, biodiversity, and ecosystem processes across diverse landscapes.

Dr. Yang arranged a tour of the aircraft and sensor payload and is planning a student tour during next year’s campaign. Sign up for one of Dr. Yang’s remote sensing courses to learn more!