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Status for: Land Cover/Dynamics (MCD12)

 
General Accuracy Statement

The accuracy of the IGBP layer of the MODIS Collection 5 Land Cover Type product (MCD12Q1) is estimated to be 74.8% globally, with a 95% confidence interval on this estimate of 72.3-77.4%. The estimate is supported by quantitative analysis using cross-validation of a training site database. Accordingly, we deem the MCD12Q1 product to be validated to Stage 2. A separate analysis of the urban land cover class in the MCD12Q1 product, based on Landsat data, indicates an overall accuracy of 93%.

MODIS Collection 5 retrievals of vegetation phenology have been demonstrated to compare well with in-situ measurements collected at field sites in North America, although more data collection and analysis are required to validate the product at larger scales. The MODIS Global Land Cover Dynamics product (MCD12Q2) is therefore deemed to be validated at Stage 2.

In the evaluation of the MCD12Q1 Collection 5 product, we discovered a critical error that is addressed in version 5.1. Please download this note for users of the MODIS Land Cover (MCD12Q1) product.


Product status updated:  July 2014 (reviewed Nov 2015)
Product version:  Collection 5.1

 
Supporting Studies:
 

Land Cover Dynamics (MCD12Q2)
Title: Evaluating remote sensing of deciduous forest phenology at multiple spatial scales using PhenoCam imagery
Author: S. T. Klosterman, K. Hufkens, J. M. Gray, E. Melaas, O. Sonnentag, I. Lavine, L. Mitchell, R. Norman, M. A. Friedl, and A. D. Richardson
Source: Biogeosciences, 11, 4305-4320. doi:10.5194/bg-11-4305-2014
View Summary Results From This Document
 
Title: The global NPP dependence on ENSO: La Ni�a and the extraordinary year of 2011
Author: T. F. Keenan, B. Darby, E. Felts, O. Sonnentag, M. A. Friedl, K. Hufkens, J. O'Keefe, S. Klosterman, J. W. Munger, M. Toomey, and A. D. Richardson
Source: Ecological Applications 24:1478�1489. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/13-0652.1
View Summary Results From This Document
 
Title: Digital repeat photography for phenological research in forest ecosystems
Author: Sonnentag, O., Hufkens, K.,Teshera-Sterne, Young, A.M., Friedl, M.A., Braswell, B.H., Milliman, T., O�Keefe, J., and A.D. Richardson
Source: Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 152, pp. 159-177.
View Summary Results From This Document
 
Title: Linking near-surface and satellite remote sensing measurements of deciduous broadleaf forest phenology
Author: Hufkens, K, Friedl, M.A. Sonnetag, O., Braswell, B.H., Millman, T. and A.D. Richardson
Source: Remote Sensing of Environment, 117(15), pp. 366-380.
View Summary Results From This Document
 
Title: Land surface phenology from MODIS: Characterization of the Collection 5 global land cover dynamics product.
Author: Ganguly, S., Friedl, M.A., Tan, B., Zhang, X. and M. Verma
Source: Remote Sensing of Environment, 2010, 114, pp. 1805-1816.
View Summary Results From This Document
 
Title: Evaluation of the onset of green-up in temperate deciduous broadleaf forests derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data
Author: Kamel Soudani, Guerric le Maire, Eric Dufrêne, Christophe François, Nicolas Delpierre, Erwin Ulrich and Sébastien Cecchini
Source: Remote Sensing of Environment, 112 (2008), 2643-2655.
View Summary Results From This Document
 
Title: Global vegetation phenology from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS): Evaluation of global patterns and comparison with in situ measurements
Author: Xiaoyang Zhang, Mark A. Friedl, Crystal B. Schaaf
Source: Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 111, G04017, doi:10.1029/2006JG000217, 2006
View Summary Results From This Document
 
Title: MODIS Vegetation Dynamics (MOD12Q2) - Validation Information
Author: Mark Friedl and Xiaoyang Zhang
Source: Internal Document
View Summary Results From This Document
 
Land Cover (MCD12)
Title: A global land cover validation data set, I: Fundamental Design principles
Author: Olofsson, P., Stehman, S.V., Woodcock, C.E., Friedl, M.A. Sulla-Menashe, D., Sibley, A.M., Newell, J.D. and M. Herold
Source: International Journal of Remote Sensing, Vol. 33, Iss. 18, 2012; DOI: 10.1080/01431161.2012.674230
View Summary Results From This Document
 
Title: A global land cover validation data set, II: Augmenting a stratified sampling design to estimate accuracy by region and land-cover class
Author: Stehman, S.V., Olofsson, P., Woodcock, C.E., M. Herold , and M.A. Friedl
Source: International Journal of Remote Sensing, 33(22), pp. 6975-6993
View Summary Results From This Document
 
Title: Making better use of accuracy data in land change studies: estimating accuracy and area and quantifying uncertainty using stratified estimation
Author: Pontus Olofsson, Giles M. Foody, Stephen V. Stehman, Curtis E. Woodcock
Source: Remote Sensing of Environment, 129 (2013) 122-131
View Summary Results From This Document
 
Title: Comparison and Assessment of Coarse Resolution Land Cover Maps for Northern Eurasia
Author: Pflugmacher, D., Krankina, O.N., Cohen, W.B., Friedl, M.A., Sulla-Menashe, D., Kennedy, R.E, Nelson, P. Loboda, T.V., Kuemmerle, T., Dyukarev, E., Elsakov, V., Kharuk, V.I.
Source: Remote Sensing of Environment, 115, pp. 3539-3553.
View Summary Results From This Document
 
Title: MODIS Collection 5 global land cover: Algorithm refinements and characterization of new datasets
Author: Mark A. Friedl, Damien Sulla-Menashe, Bin Tan, Annemarie Schneider, Navin Ramankutty, Adam Sibley and Xiaoman Huang
Source: Remote Sensing of Environment (2010), doi:10.1016/j.rse.2009.08.016
View Summary Results From This Document
 
Title: Mapping global urban areas using MODIS 500-m data: New methods and data sets based on 'urban ecoregions.'
Author: Schneider, A., Friedl, M.A. and D. Potere
Source: Remote Sensing of Environment, 2010, 114, pp. 1733-1746
View Summary Results From This Document
 
Title: A new map of global urban extent from MODIS satellite data.
Author: Schneider, A, Friedl, M.A. and D. Potere
Source: Environmental Research Letters, 2009, 4, DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/4/4/044003.
View Summary Results From This Document
 
Title: Some challenges in global land cover mapping: An assessment of agreement datasets
Author: M. Herold, P. Mayaux, C.E. Woodcock, A. Baccini, C. Schmullius
Source: Remote Sensing of Environment, 112 (2008), 2538-2556
View Summary Results From This Document
 
Title: Assessment of remotely sensed and statistical inventories of African agricultural fields
Author: F. Hannerz, A. Lotsch
Source: International Journal of Remote Sensing, Volume 29, Issue 13 2008 , pages 3787-3804
View Summary Results From This Document
 
Title: Validation and comparison of 1 km global land cover products in China
Author: W. Wu, R. Shibasaki, P. Yang, L. Ongaro, Q. Zhou, H. Tang
Source: International Journal of Remote Sensing, Volume 29, Issue 13 2008 , pages 3769-3785
View Summary Results From This Document
 
Title: Evaluation of global land cover data sets over the tundra-taiga transition zone in northernmost Finland
Author: J. Heiskanen
Source: International Journal of Remote Sensing, Volume 29, Issue 13 2008 , pages 3727-3751
View Summary Results From This Document
 
Title: Exploiting synergies of global land cover products for carbon cycle modeling
Author: Martin Jung, Kathrin Henkel, Martin Herold, Galina Churkina
Source: Remote Sensing of Environment, 101 (2006), 534-553
View Summary Results From This Document
 
Title: A joint initiative for harmonization and validation of land cover datasets
Author: Martin Herold, Curtis Woodcock, Antonio di Gregorio, Philippe Mayaux, Alan Belward, John Latham, and Christiane C. Schmullius
Source: IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING, VOL. 44, NO. 7, JULY 2006, pages 1719–1727
View Summary Results From This Document
 
Title: Validation of the Consistent-Year V003 MODIS Land Cover Product
Author: Mark Friedl
Source: Internal PI document
View Summary Results From This Document
 
Additional Validation and Product Quality
 
PI Maintained Validation Page


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