Satellite images are maintained by the LTER Network Office for data that have been acquired for research projects and activities within the LTER Network. The LTER Network archive is not designed to preserve all data available for LTER sites, but rather to provide a subset of data as a historical reference for research. The purpose of the archive is to allow access to data that are ordinarily difficult to access or preserved online (AVIRIS data, for example, because of the file sizes) or useful for cross-site or historical comparisons.
Access to spatial data and satellite images maintained at individual LTER sites will be available through the developing LTER Network Information System. Archive facilities such as the NASA Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) and EOS data gateways are the best source for data not already acquired for LTER projects. Important data for LTER sites can also be found at related work through NASA's MODIS validation activities and related archives such as the Global land Cover Facility at the University of Maryland or the Landsat.org facility at Michigan State University.
The LTER Network Office archive contains Landsat Thematic Mapper images for all of the LTER sites, as well as historical AVHRR are also included in the data collection. The archive contains selected contains airborne hyperspectral (AVIRIS) data for 1997 through 2001, for the Sevilleta and Jornada , as well as AVIRIS data for the Harvard Forest, H.J Andrews and Konza Prairie LTER sites. The AVIRIS data has been acquired through various research projects at the respective sites. Historical SPOT data are also included in the LTER Network Office archive for access to LTER researchers. Other image types are also be included, such as MODIS data products for LTER sites when the "validated" version 04 MODIS data are available in the spring of 2003.
The LTER Remote Sensing datasets are freely distributed for all not for profit and non-commercial purposes. Use of tthe data, original and derived, for any publication and/or marketing purpose requires proper credit to the U.S. LTER Program, the LTER Network Office, and the National Science Foundation under NSF Cooperative Agreement #DEB-0236154.