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Pipeline

AOP QA panel

The normal NEON/AOP pipeline writes a compact PNG quick-look, a machine-readable JSON sidecar, and a multi-page PDF audit report for each completed flight line.

PNG preview

Fast visual triage with raw ENVI, corrected ENVI, and core correction diagnostics.

JSON metrics

Structured validation values for automation, dashboards, and regression checks.

PDF audit

A fuller report with ENVI overview, correction diagnostics, QA summaries, and parquet/merge checks.

PNG layout

What the quick-look panel shows

The single PNG, <prefix>_qa.png, is intentionally compact. It now uses six panels:

Original ENVI RGB

RGB preview from the raw exported ENVI cube using the selected wavelength targets.

Corrected ENVI RGB

The same RGB targets after topographic and BRDF correction.

Pre vs post histograms

Raw and corrected sampled reflectance distributions plotted together.

Correction distribution

Signed and absolute correction deltas by wavelength.

Convolved vs corrected

Sensor harmonization scatter diagnostics when convolved products are available.

QA summary and flags

Header, validity, reflectance-bound, and issue summaries for quick interpretation.

PDF layout

What the full report adds

The PDF, <prefix>_qa.pdf, remains the deeper audit artifact and currently renders four pages:

  1. ENVI product overview: raw, corrected, and resampled ENVI products that exist on disk.
  2. Topographic and BRDF diagnostics: histograms, delta-by-wavelength plots, and geometry summaries from the correction JSON.
  3. Additional QA diagnostics: wavelength/header integrity, mask and reflectance-bound summaries, brightness coefficients, and issue text.
  4. Parquet and merge quality: per-stage parquet inventory, merge status, column summaries, and quality checks.

Interpretation

How to use the QA outputs

  • Use the PNG first to see whether raw and corrected imagery agree spatially and whether the correction diagnostics look plausible.
  • Use the JSON when you need programmatic thresholds, dashboards, or repeatable comparisons across flight lines.
  • Use the PDF when a result needs a human-readable audit trail for review, reporting, or publication support.

QA outputs are part of the scientific workflow contract. They are meant to preserve transparency, not just make the output folder look tidy.

Related pages

Where to go next

QA panels and metrics Higher-level overview of QA artefacts and metric families. Validation metrics Metric definitions and interpretation guidance. Outputs and file structure Locate the QA files next to ENVI and parquet products.