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1992 National Land Cover Data (NLCD)
1992 NLCD Resources
NLCD 1992 was the first land-cover mapping project with a national (conterminous) scope. No other national land-cover mapping program had ever been undertaken, despite the existence of Landsat TM since 1984. NLCD 1992 provides 21 different land cover classes at the native 30-meter resolution of Landsat TM for the lower 48 states. The target scene acquisition date was 1992, although cloud cover and other factors forced use of scenes from other years because of a lack of useable. Mapping was based on unsupervised clustering and logical modeling using a suite of ancillary data. Mapping methodologies are discussed more fully in Vogelmann et al. (1998)(PDF) (11pp, 2MB, About PDF). NLCD 1992 was completed about December 2000, and is supported by a paper that describes the project and main results (Vogelmann et al. 2001)
NLCD 1992 has likely been the most widely used land-cover dataset in the United States. Its wide use is a fair benchmark of the success of the program. NLCD 1992 has been used in a wide array of applications, including national environmental reporting, climate change, Clean Water Act studies, and biodiversity and conservation assessments. The table below is a short list of research that would not have been possible without NLCD.
| Source | Date | Description | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Radeloff et al. | 2005 | national estimate of wildland-urban interface | Ecol. Applications, 15:799-805 |
| Alexander et al. | 2004 | estimate total phosphorus loads for Mississippi | Water Sci. & Tech., 49:1-10 |
| Marshall et al. | 2004 | changes in Florida climate | Monthly Weather Review, 132:28-52 |
| SC DHEC | 2004 | fecal coliform TMDL, South Carolina | http://www.scdhec.net/environment/water/tmdl/ |
| Treves et al. | 2004 | predict likelihood of wolf predation on livestock | Cons. Biology, 18:114-125 |
| Amundson et al. | 2003 | national assessment of soil disturbance | Ecosystems, 6:470-482 |
| DeLiberty, Legates | 2003 | long-term soil moisture trends in Oklahoma | Int. J. of Climatology, 23:1057-1086 |
| Lawler et al. | 2003 | select conservation sites | Ecol. Applications, 13:1762-1772 |
| Mayer, Cameron | 2003 | estimate changes in breeding bird populations | Diversity & Distribution, 9:297-312 |
| Volstad et al. | 2003 | identify impaired streams in Maryland | Env. Mon. & Ass., 84:219-242 |
| Heilman et al. | 2002 | national assessment of forest fragmentation | BioScience, 52:411-422 |
| Heinz Center | 2002 | national environmental status report | http://www.heinzctr.org/ |
| Nolan et al. | 2002 | estimate groundwater nitrate contamination | Env. Sci. & Tech., 36:2138-2145 |
| Riitters et al. | 2002 | national assessment of forest fragmentation | Ecosystems, 5:815-822 |
| Sheeder et al. | 2002 | estimate atmospheric nitrogen deposition | J. Env. Qual., 31:1194-1206 |
| Smith et al. | 2002 | track environmental impact of small water bodies | Sci. Tot. Env., 299:21-36 |
| Durbrow et al. | 2001 | develop conservation plan for southeast | Proc., 2001 Georgia Water Res. Conf. |