This image shows how spectral data, information contained in reflected light, obtained from the NASA Airborne Visible and Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) is organized into “data cubes. ”  It also shows what the reflecting light reveals as the sensor collects data from the canopy to the soil. The different types of vegetation are grasslands, transition areas, and desert shrublands in the Northern Chihuahua region of New Mexico. (Image used with permission from Global Change Biology.)