Sub-Saharan Africa Woody Cover and Biomass Gridded Maps, 2000-2004

NASA provides 1 km resolution maps of woody vegetation cover and biomass for Sub-Saharan Africa from 2000 to 2004. The dataset integrates field measurements, Google Earth imagery, MODIS optical data, Q-SCAT microwave measurements, and spaceborne lidar. It was created using canopy cover observations, predicted woody cover, canopy height estimates, and tree allometry equations.

Use Cases

• Modeling carbon storage and sequestration using woody biomass estimates.
• Analyzing spatial patterns of tree and shrub cover across African biomes.
• Validating regional-scale ecological models with gridded canopy cover data.
• Assessing changes in woody vegetation structure over the early 2000s.
• Integrating remote-sensing data (MODIS, Q-SCAT, lidar) for biomass prediction.

Strengths

• Integrates multiple data sources: field measurements, Google Earth imagery, MODIS, Q-SCAT, and spaceborne lidar.
• Provides continent-scale coverage for Sub-Saharan Africa at a 1 km spatial resolution.
• Covers a specific 5-year time period (2000-2004) for consistent snapshot analysis.

Limitations

• Key metadata like row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable across all platforms.
• There is a conflict in the 'last updated' date: Data.gov lists 2026-03-13, while NASA Earthdata lists 2005-01-01.
• The license is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without explicit terms.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Canopy cover observations assembled from field measurements and Google Earth imagery; remote-sensing data from MODIS and Q-SCAT; canopy height from spaceborne lidar; allometry from GlobAllomeTree.

Time Range

2000-2004

Freshness

2026-03-13 01:48:45.565534

Geography

Sub-Saharan Africa