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Summary
The 1 degree global land cover data set describes the geographic distributions of eleven major cover types based on interannual variations in Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) derived from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) onboard NOAA polar orbiting satellites.

The eleven cover types were selected to conform with cover types ... required as input to climate models. The global land covber data set is the result of a maximum likelihood classification of the eleven cover types. The data set was based on AVHRR maximum monthly composites for 1987 of NDVI values at approximately 8 km resolution, averaged to one-by-one degree resoltuion (Los, et al 1994). A Fourier transform was applied to smooth the temporal profiles and remove low aberrant low values (Sellers, et al. 1994).

The eleven cover types include:
broadleaf evergreen forest
coniferous evergreen forest and woodland
high latitude deciduous forest and woodland
tundra
mixed coniferous forest and woodland
wooded grassland
grassland
bare ground
shrubs and bare ground
cultivated crops
broadleaf deciduous forest and woodland

The database is available in binary and ASCII format and can be
downloaded from:

http://www.geog.umd.edu/landcover/1d-map.html

The citation for this data set is:

DeFries, R. S. and J. R. G. Townshend, 1994, NDVI-derived land cover
classification at a global scale. International Journal of Remote
Sensing, 15:3567-3586.

A derivation of this data set was distributed as the land
cover/vegetation type grid cell for the first International Satellite
Land Surface Climatology (ISLSCP) Project on the 5-volume CD-ROM
ISLSCP data set available from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
(GSFC) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC):


The one-degree global land cover data set is also available as part of
the NASA Earth Science Information Partnership (ESIP) program with the
University of Maryland's Global Land Cover Facility (GLCF). See:
http://glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/

Geographic Coverage Spatial coordinates   

N: 90.0

S: -90.0

E: 180.0

W: -180.0

Data Set Citation

Dataset Creator: DeFries, R. and J.R.G. Townshend Dataset Title: NDVI-derived land cover class. at a global scale Dataset Series Name: International J. Remote Sensing Dataset Release Date: 1994 Issue Identification: 15 Online Resource: http://www.geog.umd.edu/landcover/1d-map/1d-doc.html

Temporal Coverage

Start Date: 1987-01-01 Stop Date: 1987-12-31

Location Keywords

GEOGRAPHIC REGION > GLOBAL GEOGRAPHIC REGION > GLOBAL LAND

Data Resolution

Latitude Resolution: 1 degree Longitude Resolution: 1 degree Horizontal Resolution Range: 100 km - < 250 km or approximately 1 degree - < 2.5 degrees Temporal Resolution: annual Temporal Resolution Range: Annual

Science Keywords

BIOSPHERE > VEGETATION > BIOMASS BIOSPHERE > VEGETATION > VEGETATION COVER BIOSPHERE > VEGETATION > VEGETATION INDEX > NDVI HUMAN DIMENSIONS > LAND USE/LAND COVER > LAND USE CLASSES LAND SURFACE > LAND USE/LAND COVER > LAND COVER LAND SURFACE > LAND USE/LAND COVER > LAND USE CLASSES

ISO Topic Category

BIOTA ENVIRONMENT IMAGERY/BASE MAPS/EARTH COVER PLANNING CADASTRE GEOSCIENTIFIC INFORMATION

Platform

NOAA POES > NOAA Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites

Instrument

AVHRR > Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer

Project

ARW/SJC > Aerosols and Rain Water at Sao Jose dos Campos,SP, Brazil GOFC > Global Observation of Forest Cover ESIP > Earth Science Information Partners Program ISLSCP > International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project REASON > Research, Education, and Applications Solution Network

Quality
The global land cover data set was modified from the original maximum
likelihood classification result as follows to eliminate stray pixels
that were obviously incorrectly classified: pixels falling within
training areas that were not correctly classified were changed to the
cover type indicated by the ... training area; pixels surrounded on all
sides by a different cover type were changed to that cover type;
pixels classified as broadleaf evergreen in mid-latitudes were changed
to the wooded grassland cover type; pixels classified as coniferous
evergreen within the tropics were changed to the broadleaf evergreen
cover type; pixels classified as mixed deciduous and evergreen forest
and woodland within the tropics were changed to the wooded grassland
cover type. In total, these changes altered approximately 10 percent
of the total land surface.

Sources of Error:

Wintertime NDVI values were missing for large areas in high latitudes
in the primary data set used for this study (Los, et al., 1994) . For
these areas, results from a maximum likelihood classification using
AVHRR Pathfinder data (James and Kalluri, 1994) for summertime monthly
NDVI and red reflectance values were used.

Access Constraints
None

Use Constraints
Use the following reference in citing use of this data:
DeFries, R. S. and J. R. G. Townshend, 1994a, NDVI-derived land cover
classification at global scales. International Journal of Remote
Sensing, 15:3567-3586. Special Issue on Global Data Sets.

Ancillary Keywords

IDN=G3OS/GTOS INTERANNUAL VARIATIONS LAND CLASSIFICATION LAND COVER TYPES LBA NDVI

Data Set Progress

COMPLETE

Originating Center

UMD/LGRSS

Data Center

Global Land Cover Facility, University of Maryland Data Center URL: http://glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/ Data Center Personnel Name: TASNIMA APOL Phone: 301-405-7093 Email: esip-order at umiacs.umd.edu Contact Address: Global Land Cover Facility Science Applications Office University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies 3332 AV Williams Building City: College Park Province or State: MD Postal Code: 20742 Land Cover and Remote Sensing, Geography Department, University of Maryland, Data Center URL: http://www.geog.umd.edu/landcover/ Data Center Personnel Name: JOHN R. G. TOWNSHEND Phone: 301-405-4050 Fax: 301-314-9299 Email: jrtownsh at geog.umd.edu Contact Address: Laboratory for Global Remote Sensing Studies Department of Geography 2181 LeFrak Hall University of Maryland at College Park City: College Park Province or State: MD Postal Code: 20742-8225 Country: USA

Distribution

Distribution Media: ftp, WWW Distribution Format: ASCII, binary Fees: none

Personnel

RUTH S. DEFRIES Role: INVESTIGATOR Phone: 301-405-4884 Fax: 301-314-9299 Email: rd63 at umail.umd.edu Contact Address: Laboratory for Global Remote Sensing Studies Department of Geography 2181 LeFrak Hall University of Maryland at College Park City: College Park Province or State: MD Postal Code: 20742-8225 Country: USA GENE R. MAJOR Role: DIF AUTHOR Email: gsfc-gcmduso at mail.nasa.gov JOHN R. G. TOWNSHEND Role: INVESTIGATOR Role: TECHNICAL CONTACT Phone: 301-405-4050 Fax: 301-314-9299 Email: jrtownsh at geog.umd.edu Contact Address: Laboratory for Global Remote Sensing Studies Department of Geography 2181 LeFrak Hall University of Maryland at College Park City: College Park Province or State: MD Postal Code: 20742-8225 Country: USA

Related URL

Link: VIEW PROJECT HOME PAGE Description: University of Maryland Global Land Cover Facility (GLCF) Link: VIEW PROJECT HOME PAGE Description: NASA Earth Science Information Partnership (ESIP) Federation Homepage

Publications/References
DeFries, R. S. and J. R. G. Townshend, 1994a, NDVI-derived land cover
classification at global scales. International Journal of Remote
Sensing, 15:3567-3586. Special Issue on Global Data Sets.

DeFries, R. S. and J. R. G. Townshend, 1994b. Global land cover:
comparison of ground-based data ... sets to classifications with AVHRR
data. In Environmental Remote Sensing from Regional to Global Scales,
edited by G. Foody and P. Curran, Environmental Remote Sensing from
Regional to Global Scales. (U.K.: John Wiley and Sons).

James, M. E. and S. N. V. Kalluri, 1994. The Pathfinder AVHRR land
data set: An improved coarse resolution data set for terrestrial
monitoring. International Journal of Remote Sensing, Special Issue on
Global Data Sets. 15(17):3347-3363.

Kuchler, A.W., 1983, World map of natural vegetation. Goode's World
Atlas, 16th ed., Rand McNally, 16-17.

Leemans, R., and W. P. Cramer, 1991, The IIASA database for mean
monthly values of temperature, precipitation and cloudiness on a
global terrestrial grid, technical report, International Institute for
Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria.

Los, S.O., C.O. Justice, C.J. Tucker, 1994. A global 1 by 1 degree
NDVI data set for climate studies derived from the GIMMS continental
NDVI data. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 15(17):3493- 3518.

Matthews, E., 1983. Global vegetation and land use: new high
resolution data bases for climate studies. Journal of Climate and
Applied Meteorology, 22: 474-487.

Olson, J. S., Watts, J. and L. Allison, 1983. Carbon in live
vegetation of major world ecosystems. W-7405-ENG-26, U.S. Department
of Energy, Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Sellers, P.J., S.O. Los, C.J. Tucker, C.O. Justice, D.A. Dazlich,
G.J. Collatz, and D.A. Randall, 1994. A global 1*1 degree NDVI data
set for climate studies. Part 2: The generation of global fields of
terrestrial biophysical parameters from the NDVI. International
Journal of Remote Sensing, 15(17):3519-3545.

Sellers, P.J., D.A. Randall, C.J. Collatz, J.A. Berry, C.B. Field,
D.A. Dazlich, C. Zhang, and C.D. Collelo, 1995a. A revised land
surface parameterization (SiB2) for atmospheric GCMs. Part 1: Model
formulation. submitted to Journal of Climate.

Sellers, P.J., S.O. Los, C.J. Tucker, C.O. Justice, D.A. Dazlich,
G.J. Collatz, and D.A. Randall, 1995b. A revised land surface
parameterization (SiB2) for atmospheric GCMs. Part 2: The generation
of global fields of terrestrial biophysical parameters from satellite
data. submitted to Journal of Climate.

Swain, P. H. and S. M. Davis, (ed.), 1978. Remote Sensing: The
Quantitative Approach. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company).

Wilson, M. F. and A. Henderson-Sellers, 1985. A global archive of land
cover and soils data for use in general circulation models. Journal of
Climatology, 5: 119-143.

Creation and Review Dates

Last DIF Revision Date: 2008-08-15

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