Global Vegetation Cover Percentages at 250-Meter Resolution

MODIS/Terra Vegetation Continuous Fields V061 provides global annual estimates of surface vegetation as gradations of three ground cover components: percent tree cover, percent non-tree cover, and percent non-vegetated. The LPCLOUD product offers a continuous, quantitative portrayal at 250-meter pixel resolution. Each annual period begins around day of year 65.

Use Cases

• Model regional carbon stocks by analyzing annual percent tree cover layers.
• Track desertification or urbanization trends using time-series of percent non-vegetated cover.
• Assess data quality for downstream applications by incorporating the provided quality indicator layers.
• Characterize savanna or grassland ecosystems by examining the sub-pixel mixture of percent non-tree cover.
• Mask unreliable observations in analyses using the cloud cover layer.

Strengths

• Global spatial coverage enables continental and biome-scale analysis.
• Sub-pixel estimates for three cover components provide continuous, quantitative data.
• 250-meter pixel resolution offers detailed land surface characterization.

Limitations

• Product has known issues documented externally, requiring user review prior to application.
• Annual composite starting on a fixed day of year may not align with all regional growing seasons.
• Specific error metrics or validation details for the percent cover estimates are not provided in this description.

Provenance

Source

NASA Earthdata, produced by LPCLOUD.

Collection Method

Remote sensing data from the MODIS/Terra sensor, processed to derive sub-pixel vegetation cover estimates.

Time Range

Annual periods, starting approximately March 5-6 each year.

Freshness

Yearly update frequency.

Geography

Global.