Boreal Forest Tree Canopy Cover and Stand Age from Landsat, 1984-2020

Global boreal forests between 47 to 73 degrees north are covered by this dataset. It provides locally-calibrated estimates of tree canopy cover and forest stand age at 30-meter resolution, derived from Landsat satellite imagery from 1984 to 2020. The data were produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration using machine learning models calibrated with World Reference System 2 data.

Use Cases

• Modeling carbon storage dynamics based on tree canopy cover and stand age estimates.
• Analyzing long-term forest change and disturbance patterns based on the 36-year time series.
• Calibrating regional ecological models based on the 30-meter spatial resolution data.
• Studying the impact of disproportionate warming on boreal forests based on the broad spatial coverage.

Strengths

• Broad spatial coverage spanning the circum-hemispheric boreal forest biome.
• Long temporal coverage from 1984 to 2020, providing a 36-year time series.
• High spatial resolution of 30 meters for detailed regional analysis.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the Landsat and World Reference System 2 sources.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Machine learning models applied to Landsat data, calibrated with World Reference System 2 data.

Time Range

1984-2020

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 19:46:26.236743; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global boreal forests between 47 to 73 degrees north.