Mojave Desert Ecosystem Initiative ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents Identification_Information Abstract Purpose Supplemental Information Data_Quality_Information Spatial_Data_Organization_Information Spatial_Reference_Information Distribution_Information Metadata_Reference_Information IDENTIFICATION_INFORMATION Citation_Information Originator: U.S. Geological Survey Publication_Date: 1994 Title: Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: remote-sensing image Publication_Information Publication_Place: Sioux Falls, South Dakota Publisher: U.S. Geological Survey Online_linkage: http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/glis/glis.html Description Abstract The Multi-Resolution Land Characterisitics(MRLC) dataset is comprised of standardized, pre-processed Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) image scenes covering the Mojave Ecoregion and outlying areas as defined by Robert Bailey in the 1995 second edition of "Description of the Ecoregions of the United States". The EROS Data Center (EDC), on behalf of the MRLC Consortium, negotiated an agreement with Space Imaging EOSAT allowing the purchase of 430 Landsat TM scenes representing one-time coverage of the conterminous United States. The agreement further provided the option to obtain an additional 100 scenes, at no cost to allow for multitemporal coverage of selected portions of the United States. Additionally, the agreement allowed the EDC to identify up to an additional 150 scenes which had been previously purchased for non-MRLC activities, such as scenes purchased by the GAP prior to the purchase agreement, to be used for MRLC activities. TM scenes for areas comprised mostly of natural vegetation were selected from seasons corresponding to peak biomass or period of peak vegetation of the dominant underlying vegetation types. When multitemporal scenes were selected, the second scene was selected to represent non-peak or senescent vegetation seasons. Selection for areas comprised mostly of agricultural landcover was based on the seasonal planting record and phenology of 10 major crop groups, as identified in the 1987 Census of Agriculture, and evaluation of annual time series for vegetation greenness indices derived from AVHRR satellite data. All scenes were previewed for image quality. Those scenes found to be unacceptable due to cloud cover patterns or radiometric anomalies were rejected and new scenes selected. Replacement scenes were selected based on the same criteria used in the initial selection, with the replacement scenes generally acquired within one or two months of the original or acquired in the same season but in a different year. Temporal coverage consists of TM scene acquistions ranging from 1990 to 1994, with a cloud coverage limitation of 10 percent or less. All image scenes are geometrically corrected using a cubic convolution resampling algorithm to a Universal Transverse Mercator output projection with a 30 meter pixel resolution. Purpose The Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) project was established to provide multi-resolution landcover data of the conterminous United States from local to regional scales. A centerpiece of MRLC is an objective to develop a national 30-meter landcover characteristics data base using Landsat thematic mapper (TM) data. This is a cooperative effort among six programs within four U.S. Government agencies: the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP); the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) National Water Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA); the Department of Interior National Biological Service's (NBS) Gap Analysis Program (GAP); the USGS's Earth Resources Observation Systems (EROS) Data Center; the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP); and the EPA's North American Landscape Characterization (NALC) project. The four agencies formed the MRLC Consortium for the purpose of purchasing Landsat TM images covering the conterminous U.S. that could form the basis of a system for obtaining baseline multi-scale environmental characteristics as well as a mechanism for monitoring and assessing environmental change at the regional level. Each of these programs had an immediate need for the images but found that individual purchases were not cost effective. However, a joint purchase was found to be very cost effective, saving the Federal Government several million dollars in data costs and data processing. This collaboration allows for each program to continue the pursuit of its own objective, but also increases the potential for joint landscape characterization efforts. Supplemental_Information Data Source: Landsat 5 Sensor Type: TM10 WRS: 041/035 Preprocessing Steps: In an effort to remove or attenuate the 16-detector banding pattern found in some TM imagery, a debanding algorithm was applied to all scenes. After debanding is performed, all scenes are inspected for line and pixel drops. Scenes found to have multiple line drops or severe pixel drops are rejected and replacement scenes ordered. Single line drops are replaced by averaging the line above and the line below. The preprocessed image is written to tape and stored in the EDC archive. Geometric Registration: The TM images were precision corrected and registered to a map base. This entailed the selection of image and planimetric source control points for use in developing the model for precision correction. Control point sources included 1:100,000-scale USGS digital line graph (DLG) data and 1:24,000-scale USGS topographic maps for areas within the U.S. and 1:50,000-scale maps for areas of the included scenes that fall outside the U.S. borders. The DLGs are components of the National Digital Cartographic Data Base (NDCDB), and they are comprised of the various thematic layers (transportation, hydrography, hypsography, political boundaries, etc.) depicted on the 1:100,000-scale topographic map series (USGS, 1989). The DLGs were interactively overlaid onto the imagery to facilitate visual correlation of area features in the imagery and the DLG data. Once a feature match was achieved, the image (line, sample) and DLG (latitude, longitude) coordinates for a specific point along the feature were extracted and compiled in a control point file. Approximately 20 to 30 points were extracted, and the corresponding elevation values for these points retrieved from the digital elevation model (DEM) data, which were derived from the Defense Mapping Agency (DMA) Level 1 Digital Terrain Elevation Data (DTED) (USGS, 1987). The image and map/DLG ground control points were then used to compute the coefficients for a first order polynomial model used to geometrically correct and reproject the image to a Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) ground control coordinate system. The map control points contain X, Y, and elevation values and were corrected for relief displacement. The image was rectified and resampled, using cubic convolution, to a UTM-projected output image comprised of 30- by 30-meter pixels. A full terrain correction was applied by correcting for the effects of relief displacement, on a pixel-by-pixel basis, using the DEM image previously created. A verification of registration quality was performed using control points selected from a map source. Scenes must meet quality restrictions of total RMSEs of less than 1.0 pixel. Approximately 12-plus control points were used to verify the image-to-map registration accuracy. Further information about these topics can be accessed via the on-line linkage WWW site listed above. Time_Period_of_Content Time_Period_Information Single_Date/Time Calendar_Date: 19930810 Currentness_Reference Sensor acquistion date Status Progress Complete Maintenance_and_Update_Frequency None Planned Spatial_Domain Bounding_Coordinates West_Bounding_Coordinate: -119.1512 East_Bounding_Coordinate: -116.6506 North_Bounding_Coordinate: 36.1228 South_Bounding_Coordinate: 35.1290 Keywords Theme Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: None Theme_Keyword: Satellite, imagery, remote sensing, Thematic Mapper, MRLC, USGS Place Place_Keyword_Thesaurus: None Place_Keyword: Mojave Desert Ecoregion Access_Constraints Data availability is restricted to MRLC consortium members, their affiliated users, and to Federal Agencies. The joint acquistion of data is archived and distributed by USGS EROS Data Center, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Use_Constraints The MRLC LANDSAT TM Geocoded dataset distribution is limited to MRLC participants and U.S. government affiliated users. Usage is restricted to noncommercial purposes such as research. Point_of_Contact Contact_Information Contact_Organizaton_Primary Contact_Position: N/A Contact_Address Address_Type: mailing address Address: U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation Systems Data Center City: Sioux Falls State_or_Province: South Dakota Postal_Code: 57198 Country: USA Contact_Voice_Telephone: (605) 594-6151 Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: (605) 594-6589 Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: custserv@edcserver1.cr.usgs.gov Data_Set_Credit U.S. Geological Survey EROS Data Center, Sioux Falls, SD 57198 Telephone: (605)594-6151 FAX: (605)594-6589 Security_Information Security_Classification_System: None Security_Classification: Unclassified Security_Handling_Description: None Native_Data_Set_Environment: SunOS UNIX, ERDAS IMAGINE version 8.3, dataset size variable Cross_Reference Citation_Information Originator: Bara, T. J., ed. Publication_Date: 1994 Title: Multi-resolution Land Characteristics Consortium- Documentation Notebook Publication_Information Publication_Place: Research Triangle Park, N.C. Publisher: ManTech Environmental Technology, Inc. Other_Citation_Details: [Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program- Landscape Characterization, Contract 68-DO-0106] Cross_Reference Citation_Information Originator: Bernstein, Ralph Publication_Date: 1983 Title: Image Geometry and Rectification Publication_Information Publication_Place: Falls Church, Va. Publisher: American Society of Photogrammetry Other_Citation_Details: in Manual of Remote Sensing, Colwell, R.N., ed. Cross_Reference Citation_Information Originator: Kelly, P.M. and White, J.M. Publication_Date: unknown Title: Preprocessing Remotely Sensed Data for efficient analysis and classification Publication_Information Publication_Place: Los Alamos, N.M. Publisher: Los Alamos National Laboratory DATA_QUALITY_INFORMATION Attribute_Accuracy Attribute_Accuracy_Report: not applicable for raster data Logical_Consistency_Report: N/A Completeness_Report N/A Positional_Accuracy Horizontal_Positional_Accuracy Horizontal_Positional_Accuracy_Report: Geometric rectification of TM scenes entailed registration to a map base by selection of planimetric source control points from 1:100,000 scale USGS Digital Line Graph (DLG) data and 1:24,000 scale USGS topographic quadrangles. Elevation values were retrieved from DEM data derived from DMA 1:250,000 scale DTED data. Image-to-vector overlay point extraction yielded approximately 30 X,Y,Z values used to calculate coefficients input into a first order polynomial transformation, and reprojection to the UTM coordinate system. A single cubic convolution resample combining geometric correction and reprojection minimized decimation of output DN values. Verification of registration accuracy was performed using control point distribution plots from 7.5 minute topographic quadrangles. Geometric registration quality was required to meet total root mean square errors (RMSE) of plus or minus one pixel (30 meters). If scenes failed to meet this error requirement, then control points were reselected and the process repeated. Quantitative_Horizontal_Positional_Accuracy_Assessment: Horizontal_Positional_Accuracy_Value: +-30 meters Horizontal_Positional_Accuracy_Explanation: see Horizontal Positional Accuracy Report Vertical_Positional_Accuracy Vertical_Positional_Accuracy_Report: Elevation values were extracted from 1:250,000 scale USGS DTED data and used to create a DEM. Control points were corrected for relief displacement using a full terrain correction model from the DEM creation. Quality restrictions were required to meet total RMSE's of less than one pixel. Lineage Source_Information Source_Citation Citation_Information Originator: U.S. Geological Survey Publication_Date: 1989 Title: Digital Line Graphs from 1:100,000-Scale maps - Data Users Guide 2. Publication_Information Publication_Place: Reston, Virginia Publisher: U.S. Geological Survey Source_Scale_Denominator: 100000 Type_of_Source_media: cartridge tape, magnetic tape, CD-ROM Source_Time_Period_of_Content Time_Period_Information Range_of_Dates/Times Beginning_Date: Unknown Ending_Date: Unknown Source_Currentness_Reference publication date Source_Contribution Digital line graph data at the 1:100,000 scale were used as a map base to extract ground control points for geometric registration of TM scenes. A minimum of 12 x,y coordinate points were selected from the DLG data and/or the 1:24,000 scale topographic quadrangles. SPATIAL_DATA_ORGANIZATION_INFORMATION Direct_Spatial_Reference_Method: Raster Raster_Object_Information Raster_Object_Type: Grid Cell Row_Count: 6892 Column_Count: 7693 SPATIAL_REFERENCE-INFORMATION Horizontal_Coordinate_System_Definition Planar Grid_Coordinate_System Grid_Coordinate_System_Name: Universal_Transverse_Mercator (UTM) Zone_Number: 11 Planar_Distance_Units: METERS Geodetic Model Horizontal_Datum_Name: North American Datum of 1983 Ellipsoid_Name: Geodetic Reference System 80 Semi-major_Axis: 6378137.0 Denominator_of_Flattening_Ratio: 21384.69/6378137.0 DISTRIBUTION_INFORMATION Distributor Contact_Information Contact_Organizaton_Primary Contact_Position: N/A Contact_Address Address_Type: mailing address Address: U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation Systems Data Center City: Sioux Falls State_or_Province: South Dakota Postal_Code: 57198 Country: USA Contact_Voice_Telephone: (605) 594-6151 Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: (605) 594-6589 Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: custserv@edcserver1.cr.usgs.gov Standard_Order_Process Digital_Form Digital_Transfer_Information Format_Name: BSQ Format_Information_Content: The 8-mm cartridge tapes may be ordered in either Space Imaging EOSAT Fast format or in a transfer format, containing the data descriptor record (DDR) file in ASCII format; the six image files (one file for each band processed), the coregistered DEM DDR; and the coregistered DEM image data. The DDR file contains information describing the image projection parameters and corner coordinates. Corner coordinates correspond to the four corners of the full geocoded scene including the zero-filled area. The six image files correspond to TM bands 1,2,3,4,5, and 7. The image size (number of lines and samples) is determined by the corner coordinates and projection of individual images, and therefore, will vary based upon path/row. Transfer_Size: 650 megabytes Digital_Transfer_Option Online_Option Computer_Contact_Information Network_Address Network_Resource_Name: http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/eros-home.html Offline_Option Offline_Media: CD-ROM 8 mm cartridge tape Recording_Format: ISO 9660 Fees CD-ROM: MRLC Geocoded - $50 Cartridge tape - MRLC Geocoded - $150 METADATA_REFERENCE_INFORMATION Metadata_Date: 1997-10-24 Metadata_Contact Contact_Information Contact_Person_Primary Contact_Person: Information Systems Management Contact_Organization: U.S.G.S. EROS Data Center Contact_Address Address_Type: mailing address Address: Information Systems Management U.S. Geological Survey EROS Data Center City: Sioux Falls State_or_Province: South Dakota Postal_Code: 57198 Country: USA Contact_Voice_Telephone: (605) 594-6594 Contact_Facimile_Telephone: (605) 594-6589 Electronic_Mail_Address: custserv@edcmail.cr.usgs.gov Metadata_Standard_Name: FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata Metadata_Standard_Version: 19940608