NAFD-ATT: Forest Canopy Loss Causes in CONUS, 1986-2010

North American Forest Dynamics (NAFD) products predict the cause of forest canopy cover losses across the conterminous United States from 1986 to 2010. The dataset provides four raster layers derived from Landsat imagery, labeling the type, year, and confidence of the most significant disturbance event per pixel. These layers include classifications for removals, fire, stress, wind, conversion, and stable forest.

Use Cases

• Mapping forest disturbance types (e.g., fire, harvest) across the continental U.S. based on the event classification layer.
• Analyzing the timing of canopy loss events using the year-of-event layer for temporal trend studies.
• Assessing model prediction reliability for specific areas using the dominance and diversity confidence layers.

Strengths

• Provides a 25-year continuous record (1986-2010) of forest canopy change.
• Includes modeled confidence metrics (dominance, diversity) to assess prediction reliability.
• Covers the entire conterminous United States (CONUS) at Landsat pixel resolution.

Limitations

• Metadata conflicts on last update date (2010 vs. 2026) and license details are unclear.
• Column names and exact data formats (beyond raster layers) are not specified in the provided metadata.
• The dataset captures only the 'greatest magnitude event' per pixel over the 25-year period, potentially omitting smaller disturbances.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Derived from Landsat satellite imagery and predictive modeling.

Time Range

1986 to 2010

Freshness

2026-04-10 (from datagov, though this may be a metadata refresh; core data period ends 2010)

Geography

Conterminous United States (CONUS)