This image represents the 2005 land cover types for the western United States (h08/v05). This first SDS layer depicts the IGBP classification. The predominant light brown color represents the open shrublands. Varying shades of green portray the evergreen and deciduous forests. Sienna shades are areas of woody savannas, and savannas. Closed shrublands are characterized in thistle, and yellow indicates croplands. Red represents urban and built-up areas, while coral indicates barren and sparse vegetation.
The MODIS Land Cover Type product contains multiple classification schemes, which describe land cover properties derived from observations spanning a year’s input of Terra and Aqua data. The primary land cover scheme identifies 17 land cover classes defined by the International Geosphere Biosphere Programme (IGBP), which includes 11 natural vegetation classes, three developed and mosiacked land classes, and three non-vegetated land classes.
The MODIS Terra + Aqua Land Cover Type Yearly L3 Global 500 m SIN Grid product incorporates five different land cover classification schemes, derived through a supervised decision-tree classification method:
MOD12 Collection 5 products are under evaluation. Further status updates are anticipated by the end of calendar year 2008.
Temporal Coverage | 2001–2005 |
Area | ~10 x 10 lat/long |
File Size | ~ 88 MB |
Projection | Sinusoidal |
Data Format | HDF-EOS |
Dimensions | 2400 x 2400 rows/columns |
Resolution | 500 meters |
Science Data Sets (SDS HDF Layers) | 16 |
HDF Science Data Set Layers MODIS Terra + Aqua Land Cover Type Yearly L3 Global 500 m SIN Grid V005 (MCD12Q1):
Science Data Set | Units | Data-Type | Fill Value | Valid Range |
Land Cover Type 1 (IGBP)* | Class # | 8-bit unsigned | 255 | 0–254 |
Land Cover Type 2 (UMD)* | Class # | 8-bit unsigned | 255 | 0–254 |
Land Cover Type 3 (LAI/fPAR)* | Class # | 8-bit unsigned | 255 | 0–254 |
Land Cover Type 4 (NPP/BGC)* | Class # | 8-bit unsigned | 255 | 0–254 |
Land Cover Type 5 (PFT)** | Class # | 8-bit unsigned | 255 | 0–254 |
Land Cover Type 1 Assessment | % Integer | 8-bit unsigned | 255 | 0–254 |
Land Cover Type 2 Assessment | Not populated | 8-bit unsigned | 255 | 0–254 |
Land Cover Type 3 Assessment | Not populated | 8-bit unsigned | 255 | 0–254 |
Land Cover Type 4 Assessment | Not populated | 8-bit unsigned | 255 | 0–254 |
Land Cover Type 5 Assessment | Not populated | 8-bit unsigned | 255 | 0–254 |
Land Cover QC | Concatenated Flags | 8-bit unsigned | 255 | 0–254 |
Land Cover Type 1 Secondary | Class # | 8-bit unsigned | 255 | 0–254 |
Land Cover Type 1 Secondary % | Not populated | 8-bit unsigned | 255 | 0–254 |
Land Cover Property 1 | Not populated | 8-bit unsigned | 255 | 0–254 |
Land Cover Property 2 | Not populated | 8-bit unsigned | 255 | 0–254 |
Land Cover Property 3 | Not populated | 8-bit unsigned | 255 | 0–254 |
Table 2: Land Cover Types Description (1 through 4 classification schemes):
Class | IGBP (Type 1) | UMD (Type 2) | LAI/fPAR (Type 3) | NPP (Type 4) |
0 | Water | Water | Water | Water |
1 | Evergreen Needle-leaf forest | Evergreen Needle-leaf forest | Grasses/Cereal crops | Evergreen Needle-leaf vegetation |
2 | Evergreen Broad-leaf forest | Evergreen Broadleaf forest | Shrubs | Evergreen Broadleaf vegetation |
3 | Deciduous Needle-leaf forest | Deciduous Needle-leaf forest | Broad-leaf crops | Deciduous Needle-leaf vegetation |
4 | Deciduous Broad-leaf forest | Deciduous Broad-leaf forest | Savanna | Deciduous Broad-leaf vegetation |
5 | Mixed forest | Mixed forest | Evergreen Broad-leaf forest | Annual Broad-leaf vegetation |
6 | Closed shrublands | Closed shrublands | Deciduois Broad-leaf forest | Annual grass vegetation |
7 | Open shrublands | Open shrublands | Evergreen Needle-leaf forest | Non-vegetated land |
8 | Woody savannas | Woody savannas | Deciduous Needle-leaf forest | Urban |
9 | Savannas | Savannas | Non-vegetated | |
10 | Grasslands | Grasslands | Urban | |
11 | Permanent wetlands | |||
12 | Croplands | Croplands | ||
13 | Urban and built-up | Urban and built-up | ||
14 | Cropland/Natural vegetation mosaic | |||
15 | Permanent snow and ice | |||
16 | Barren or sparsely vegetated | Barren or sparsely vegetated | ||
255 | Fill Value | Fill Value | Fill Value | Fill Value |
Table 3: **Land Cover Types Description (Type 5 classification)
Class | PFT (Type 5) |
0 | Water |
1 | Evergreen Needle-leaf trees |
2 | Evergreen Broad-leaf trees |
3 | Deciduous Needle-leaf trees |
4 | Deciduous Broad-leaf trees |
5 | Shrub |
6 | Grass |
7 | Cereal crops |
8 | Broad-leaf crops |
9 | Urban and built-up |
10 | Snow and ice |
11 | Barren or sparse vegetation |
255 | Fill Value |
MODIS Land Cover Type QA Science Data Set
The following QA-related information is extracted from the MODIS Land Cover Type Users Guide: http://wwwmodis.bu.edu/landcover/userguidelc/lc.html
The Land_Cover_Type_QC SDS is specified as follows:
Data Field Name: UINT8 Land_Cover_Type_QC ("YDim", "XDim")
Description: Quality flags for Land Cover Type.
00–01 Mandatory QA
0 = processed, good quality
1 = processed, see other QA
2 = not processed due to cloud effects
3 = not processed due to other effects
02–03 Quarters since updated
0 = 1 quarter
1 = 2 quarters
2 = 3 quarters
3 = 4 quarters
04–07 land/water
0 = Shallow ocean
1 = Land (Nothing else but land)
2 = Ocean coastlines and lake shores
3 = Shallow inland water
4 = Ephemeral water
5 = Deep inland water
6 = Moderate or continental ocean
7 = Deep ocean
Please find the current MODIS-related Data Redistribution and Pricing policies on the MODIS Policies Section of this Web Site
LP DAAC Acknowledgement and Citations Policy
In the event that data distributed from the Land Processes DAAC are incorporated into your research, please supply the following acknowledgment within your published work: "These data are distributed by the Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC), located at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center (lpdaac.usgs.gov)." If possible, please e-mail or send us reprints/citations of papers or oral presentations based on data obtained from the LP DAAC (see below for mailing address and e-mail address). This will help us to stay informed of how the data are being utilized.
LP DAAC User Services
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center
47914 252nd Street
Sioux Falls, SD 57198-0001
The complete archived record for this product is available through the WIST search and order interface and on-line through the Data Pool.
Please find links to (and information about) these data access tools on the Get Data Section of this Web Site.
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS)
47914 252nd Street
Sioux Falls, SD 57198-0001
Phone Number: | 605-594-6116 |
Toll Free: | 866-573-3222 |
866-LPE-DAAC | |
Fax: | 605-594-6963 |
Email: | lpdaac@eos.nasa.gov |
Web: | http://lpdaac.usgs.gov |