Middle East Forest Cover Map From 1995 AVHRR Data

A 1995-era land cover map for the Middle East classifies terrain into five categories: closed forest, open or fragmented forest, other wooded land, other land cover, and water. The U.S. Geological Survey EROS Data Center produced it using monthly AVHRR composite imagery. The dataset was finalized in 1996.

Use Cases

• Analyze the spatial distribution of 'Closed Forest' and 'Open or Fragmented Forest' classes to assess historical forest density.
• Calculate the area of 'Other Land Cover' versus vegetated classes to study land conversion patterns circa 1995.
• Use the 'Water' class grid cells to validate or compare with other hydrological datasets for the region.
• Model historical baseline vegetation using the 'Other Wooded Land' classification for ecological studies.

Strengths

• Provides a consistent land cover classification for the entire Middle East region.
• Based on AVHRR satellite imagery processed with a specific hybrid maximum-NDVI and minimum-red compositing technique.

Limitations

• Data is from circa 1995 and does not reflect current conditions.
• Classification is limited to five broad classes, which may lack detail for specific ecological analyses.

Provenance

Source

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) EROS Data Center (EDC)

Collection Method

Delineated from circa 1995 monthly AVHRR composite images using a hybrid maximum-NDVI and minimum-red compositing technique.

Time Range

circa 1995

Freshness

1996-12-31

Geography

Middle East