Landsat Land Cover Classification for Northern Ecuadorian Amazon

Landsat Thematic Mapper imagery from 1986, 1989, 1996, and 1999 has been classified into land use and land cover categories for four Intensive Study Areas in Ecuador's northern Oriente region. The dataset consists of 12 georeferenced raster files, each with a spatial resolution of 30 meters. It was produced by the University of North Carolina's Carolina Population Center for the LBA-ECO project.

Use Cases

• Analyzing deforestation rates by comparing the 'Forest' class area across the four time periods.
• Tracking urban expansion by examining changes in the 'Urban/Barren' class coverage.
• Modeling hydrological patterns using the classified 'Water' bodies across the study areas.
• Assessing vegetation dynamics by monitoring the 'Non-Forest Vegetation' class over time.
• Masking cloud-obscured areas for clearer analysis using the 'Clouds/Shadows' class.

Strengths

• Provides a consistent 30-meter resolution classification across four distinct time points spanning 13 years.
• Covers four specific Intensive Study Areas within the Northern Ecuadorian Amazon, enabling localized analysis.
• Cross-platform presence on NASA Earthdata and Data.gov signals its importance and validation for scientific use.

Limitations

• The exact number of rows or pixels is unknown, and columnar data structure is not provided.
• Conflicting 'last updated' metadata exists between sources (1999 vs. 2026), creating uncertainty about provenance.
• Limited to only four snapshot years, which may not capture continuous annual change.

Provenance

Source

University of North Carolina's Carolina Population Center (CPC) Ecuador Projects, LBA-ECO.

Collection Method

Landsat TM imagery classified into land use/land cover categories.

Time Range

1986-1999

Freshness

2026-03-13 01:16:27.712552

Geography

Four Intensive Study Areas (Eastern, Northern, Southern, Southwestern) in the Northern Ecuadorian Amazon (northern Oriente).