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Published
The U.S. Geological Survey has added a new outlet for Reference and Validation (R&V) data for Annual National Land Cover Database (NLCD) Conterminous U.S. (CU), Collection 1.0. In addition to availability on the USGS ScienceBase-Catalog, the R&V data are now hosted right here on MRLC.gov.
These R&V data provide Annual NLCD users with a statistical accuracy assessment of the land cover products, as well as the source reference data. This information helps users understand the accuracy of Annual NLCD and supports better decisions in research, land use planning, and resource management.
Published
A new generation of RCMAP Ecological Potential (EP) vegetation cover components are now available. Rangelands have immense inherent spatial and temporal variability, yet assessments of land condition and trends are often assessed relative to the condition of a limited number of representative points or in some cases reference data for comparison is lacking. Understanding of the potential vegetation conditions of a site in an undisturbed state is invaluable for interpreting trends, disturbance impact, and restoration targets. EP was defined as the potential fractional cover of components (bare ground, herbaceous, litter, shrub, sagebrush, and tree) in the least disturbed and most productive spaces and times of western North America since 1985. This dataset enables: 1) setting realistic expectations for restoration and management targets, 2) better understanding of the extent of vegetation departure from potential and 3) improved spatial understanding of vegetation composition and productivity variation.
Published
The USGS has released the Reference and Validation data for Annual National Land Cover Database (NLCD) Conterminous U.S. (CU), Collection 1.0, from 1985 - 2023. With this release, data users now have access to a statistical accuracy assessment of land use and land cover change data, as well as the source reference data. This information helps data users understand how reliable Annual NLCD data is and supports better decisions in research, land use planning, and resource management.
Published
Land Cover Characteristics in a Suite of Six Products
Annual NLCD CU C1.1 adds 2024 to the established suite of six raster-based land use and land cover science products for the conterminous United States. It now covers the period between 1985 and 2024:
1. Land Cover
2. Land Cover Change
3. Land Cover Confidence
4. Fractional Impervious Surface
5. Impervious Descriptor
6. Spectral Change Day of Year
Published
The USDA Forest Service Geospatial Office (GO) builds and maintains the National Tree Canopy Cover (TCC) dataset as part of the National Land Cover Database (NLCD). Annual data for the contiguous United States is now available from 1985-2023. The TCC datasets are derived from Landsat and Sentinel-2 imagery along with USDA Forest Service - Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data, based on a spatial resolution of 30 meters. Each Tree Canopy Cover (TCC) value is determined using photo interpretation methods and machine learning models, to produce the percentage of the area covered by tree canopy and interannual change between all years.
Data for Southeast Alaska, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands are expected to be released later in 2025.
Published
The Enhanced Visualization and Analysis (EVA) tool has been updated to include the all-new Annual National Land Cover Database (NLCD) land cover products for 1985-2023. With EVA, users can easily view land change characteristics of any two date pairs in the Annual NLCD time series and generate custom reports for any county in the Conterminous U.S.
Published
The first release of annual land cover mapping data is now available for the Conterminous United States (CONUS). With this release, Annual National Land Cover Database (NLCD) offers insights into land cover and land cover change characteristics across CONUS from 1985 to 2023 through the following products:
1. Land Cover – provides 16 land cover classes such as deciduous and evergreen forest, grassland, cultivated crops and developed.
2. Land Cover Change – Represents annual land cover changes between one year and the next.
3. Land Cover Confidence – confidence levels for the land cover classifications.
4. Fractional Impervious Surface – Provides the proportion of land covered by developed surfaces, such as roads and rooftops.
5. Impervious Descriptor – offers additional information about impervious surfaces by distinguishing between roads and other built surfaces.
6. Spectral Change Day of Year – Captures the specific day of the year when significant changes in surface reflectance occur.
Published
The U.S. Geological Survey’s Rangeland Exotic Plant Monitoring System team produces expedited early estimates of exotic annual grass (EAG) in semiarid and arid landscapes of western U.S. rangelands. The most recent data developed by the team provides percent cover estimates of EAG abundance and distribution spanning 10 consecutive weekly periods from April 2024 – June 2024. The data is publicly released and provides timely information about landscape conditions based on the EAG invasion that is used by land managers to pre-position fire-fighting resources and to plan and evaluate herbicide treatments. The invasion of EAGs add fine fuels to rangeland systems, fine fuels that ignite and spread fire more readily than in non-invaded areas. The fires eliminate the historical structure of native ecosystems and displace wildlife species from their homes.
Published
Montreal, 20 March 2023 — The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) is pleased to release the latest trinational digital land cover map of North America, under the North American Land Change Monitoring System (NALCMS), a collaboration with the Governments of Canada, Mexico and the United States and their respective mapping agencies. This land cover map is the most accurate map available at this scale and is publicly available through the North American Environmental Atlas.
Published
The RCMAP product suite includes 10 components: annual herbaceous, bare ground, herbaceous, litter, non-sagebrush shrub, perennial herbaceous, sagebrush, shrub, tree, and shrub height. Data characterize the percentage of each 30-meter pixel in the Western United States covered by each component for each year from 1985-2024 - providing change information for 40 years. This RCMAP update also expands mapping east to include the Great Plains and the grasslands biome.
