NLCD 2006 Update

NLCD 2006 Update Availability to be Determined

To continue monitoring the current land cover condition and updating land cover inventory, a prototype that uses spectrally normalized Landsat images and NLCD 2001 data layers is being developed. The method has been tested in five study areas-New England, Mississippi, South Dakota, Washington, and Southern California-to update NLCD to a nominal date of 2006.The images below are an example of the types of change this product will identify.

Figure 1a and 1b: Landsat subset scenes from 2001(a) and 2006 (b) in the San Diego California area. The 2001 subset image captures an area of land that has been cleared (pink). In 2006, the same area reveals urban development, new vegetation growth and road networks in the residential area.

Figure 2a and 2b: Corresponding land cover in 2001 (2a) and 2006 (2b) derived from the Landsat subset scenes in Figure 1. The barren land (grey) in 2001 is now classified as developed (red) in the NLCD 2006 product update. This sequence of images captures the development of a new housing estate in the San Diego area.