Southern Africa Land Cover Map Derived from AVHRR Satellite Data

Land cover classification data for southern Africa is a 1-km resolution subset of a global product derived from NASA/NOAA Pathfinder AVHRR satellite imagery. The dataset contains 13 land cover classes created using 41 vegetation phenology metrics from 1992-1993 data, with supporting spectral bands including red, infrared, thermal, and NDVI. It was developed by the University of Maryland's Laboratory for Global Remote Sensing Studies and is hosted by NASA.

Use Cases

• Classifying regional land cover into 13 categories like agricultural lands and vegetation types.
• Analyzing vegetation phenology patterns using the 41 derived metrics.
• Testing the stability of land cover classification algorithms across a 14-year data record (1981-1994).
• Improving discrimination between land cover types using red, infrared, and thermal spectral bands alongside NDVI.

Strengths

• Provides a 14-year temporal record (1981-1994) for testing classification stability.
• Uses 41 specific metrics to describe global vegetation phenology for improved classification.
• Includes multiple spectral bands (red, infrared, thermal, NDVI) to improve discrimination between the 13 land cover classes.
• Cross-platform presence on Data.gov and NASA Earthdata signals established importance and curation.

Limitations

• Conflicting metadata: the last update date is listed as both 2026-03 12 (Data.gov) and 1993-12-31 (NASA Earthdata).
• Core land cover map is derived from only two years of source imagery (1992-1993), despite the longer Pathfinder record.
• Specific row counts, file sizes, and detailed column names are not provided in the available metadata.

Provenance

Source

Laboratory for Global Remote Sensing Studies (LGRSS), University of Maryland; derived from NASA/NOAA Pathfinder Land (PAL) AVHRR data.

Collection Method

Remote sensing classification of 1-km resolution satellite imagery, utilizing 41 vegetation phenology metrics.

Time Range

1981-1994 (underlying Pathfinder data); classification product based on 1992-1993.

Freshness

2026-03-12 21:47:56.945749

Geography

Southern Africa.