Global 10-Meter NDVI Percentile Composite for 2021

Worldwide satellite imagery composites derived from Sentinel-2 data for 2021. The dataset provides 10-meter resolution color images where each RGB channel represents a different percentile (10th, 50th, 90th) of the NDVI vegetation index time series for the year. It was produced by a consortium led by VITO and partners for the ESA WorldCover project.

Use Cases

• Classify land cover types by analyzing color patterns in the NDVI percentile composite, where evergreen vegetation appears white and seasonally vegetated surfaces appear yellow to red.
• Monitor vegetation health and seasonal cycles by comparing the 10th, 50th, and 90th percentile NDVI values encoded in the blue, green, and red channels.
• Identify unvegetated surfaces like urban areas or bare soil, which appear dark in the composite imagery.
• Assess intra-annual vegetation variability for a pixel by interpreting the spread between the p10 and p90 NDVI values represented in the image.
• Perform regional or continental-scale analysis by mosaicking the provided 1x1 degree geospatial tiles.

Strengths

• Global coverage at a consistent 10-meter spatial resolution.
• Data is cloud-optimized, with cloud and shadow effects removed from the source time series.
• Product derived from the Sentinel-2 satellite, a reliable and well-calibrated source.

Limitations

• No data tiles are provided for ocean areas and inner ice sheets, creating gaps in global coverage.
• The composite is a single snapshot for the year 2021, limiting temporal analysis to that period.
• Specific row, column, or file size metrics are not provided in the description.

Provenance

Source

European Space Agency (ESA) WorldCover project, produced by a consortium led by VITO.

Collection Method

Generated from Sentinel-2 NDVI time series for 2021, with percentiles calculated after cloud and shadow removal.

Time Range

2021

Freshness

null

Geography

Worldwide, organized in 1x1 degree tiles.