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# MODIS Global Land Cover Classifications at 0.25, 0.5 and 1 degree (2000-2001)#

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The files in this directory were provided by Drs. Mark Friedl and Alan Strahler, 

and Mr. John Hodges from the Department of Geography at Boston University. These 

are global, coarse resolution (1/4, 1/2 and 1 degree spatial resolutions) land 

cover classifications (dominant type, classification confidence and fractional 

cover) generated using a full year of MODerate Resolution Imaging 

Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data covering the period from October 2000 to October 

2001. These land cover products use the classification scheme proposed by the 

International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP). Original 1km MODIS data and 

land cover products are available from the EROS Data Center Distributed Active 

Archive Center (DAAC) or from Boston University at 

http://geography.bu.edu/landcover/index.html

The objective of the MODIS Land Cover Product is to provide a suite of land 

cover types useful to global system science modelers by exploiting the 

information content of MODIS data in the spectral, temporal, spatial, and 

directional domains. The MODIS Land Cover Product describes the geographic 

distribution of the 17 IGBP land cover types based on an annual time series of 

observations (See below for a list of the cover types included). Confidence 

assessments of the classifications are also provided in a separate layer. The 

data set also provides the fraction of each of the 17 classes within the coarser 

resolution cells. These data sets have been adjusted to match the land/water 

boundaries and fractions of the ISLSCP2 land/water masks. The user should always 

refer to the full data set documentation and/or the reference below for more 

information on data processing. 

Please cite the following publication when these data are used:

Friedl M.A., D.K. McIver, J.C.F. Hodges, X.Y. Zhang, D. Muchoney, A.H. Strahler, 

C.E. Woodcock, S. Gopal, A. Schneider, A. Cooper, A. Baccini, F. Gao, and C. 

Schaaf, Global Land Cover Mapping from MODIS: Algorithms and Early Results, 

Remote Sensing of Environment 83(1-2):287-302.

Any problems encountered with the data set should be reported to Eric Brown de 

Colstoun at ericbdc@ltpmail.gsfc.nasa.gov

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File Name Convention

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The data sets in this directory are provided at three spatial resolutions of 

0.25, 0.5 and 1 degrees lat./long. For each spatial resolution there is a land 

cover type classification layer (with numbers from 0 to 17), a classifier 

confidence assessment layer, in percent, and 17 associated layers that provide 

the fraction, from 0 to 100, of each land cover type per cell. The land cover 

type files are named "modis_landcover_class_XX.asc", where XX is qd, hd, or 1d, 

denoting a spatial resolution of 1/4, 1/2 or 1 degrees, respectively. The 

classifier confidence layer is named "modis_landcover_conf_XX.asc", where XX is 

the same as above. The fractional files are called "modis_landcover_XX_cZZ.asc", 

where XX is the same as above, and ZZ is a number from 00 to 17 which represents 

the land cover type code as described below. As an example, the file named 

"modis_landcover_qd_c02.asc" is the fraction of Evergreen Broadleaf Forest at a 

quarter degree spatial resolution. This file is associated with the 

"modis_landcover_class_qd.asc" land cover type file and the 

"modis_landcover_conf_qd.asc" classifier confidence file.

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ASCII File Format

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All of the files in the ISLSCP Initiative II data collection are in the ASCII, 

or text format. The file format consists of numerical fields of varying length, 

which are delimited by a single space and arranged in columns and rows. The 

values in the land cover class type and classifier confidence files are written 

as integers from 0 to 17 and 0 to 255, respectively. In the classifier 

confidence files a value of 254 is assigned to all water bodies while a value of 

255 is assigned to cells with no data. All values in the land cover fraction 

files are written as real numbers.

The files at different spatial resolutions each contain the following numbers of 

columns and rows:

    One degree: 360 columns by 180 rows 

    1/2 degree: 720 columns by 360 rows 

    1/4 degree: 1440 columns by 720 rows 

All files are gridded to a common equal-angle lat/long grid, where the 

coordinates of the upper left corner of the files are located at 180oW, 90oN and 

the lower right corner coordinates are located at 180oE, 90oS. Data in the files 

are ordered from North to South and from West to East beginning at 180 degrees 

West and 90 degrees North. 

The data files are PKZip compressed. On UNIX, they can be decompressed using the 

"unzip -a" command. On Windows, they can be decompressed using WinZip or other 

PKZip software. On the Macintosh, they can be decompressed using Stuffit 

Expander.

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Land Cover Type Codes and Definitions

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The following 17 IGBP classes are used. 

0 = Water Bodies: Oceans, seas, lakes, reservoirs, and rivers. Can be either fresh 

   or salt water bodies. Note that this class has not been mapped directly from 

   MODIS data in this provisional release. It is overlaid from a Digital Elevation 

   Model (DEM) generated for the MODIS processing stream at the Jet Propulsion 

   Laboratory (JPL). This has been adjusted to match the ISLSCP2 land/water masks.

1= Evergreen Needleleaf Forests: Lands dominated by trees with a percent canopy 

   cover >60% and height exceeding 2 meters. Almost all trees remain green all 

   year. Canopy is never without green foliage. 

2= Evergreen Broadleaf Forests: Lands dominated by trees with percent canopy 

   cover >60% and height exceeding 2 meters. Almost all trees remain green year all 

   year. Canopy is never without green foliage. 

3= Deciduous Needleleaf Forests: Lands dominated by trees with a percent canopy 

   cover >60% and height exceeding 2 meters. Consists of seasonal needleleaf tree 

   communities with an annual cycle of leaf-on and leaf-off periods. 

4= Deciduous Broadleaf Forests: Lands dominated by trees with a percent canopy 

   cover >60% and height exceeding 2 meters. Consists of seasonal broadleaf tree 

   communities with an annual cycle of leaf-on and leaf-off periods. 

5= Mixed Forests: Lands dominated by trees with a percent canopy cover >60% and 

   height exceeding 2 meters. Consists of tree communities with interspersed 

   mixtures or mosaics of the other four forest cover types. None of the forest 

   types exceeds 60% of landscape. 

6= Closed Shrublands: Lands with woody vegetation less than 2 meters tall and 

   with shrub canopy cover is >60%. The shrub foliage can be either evergreen or 

   deciduous. 

7= Open Shrublands: Lands with woody vegetation less than 2 meters tall and with 

   shrub canopy cover is between 10-60%. The shrub foliage can be either evergreen 

   or deciduous. 

8= Woody Savannas: Lands with herbaceous and other understory systems and forest 

   canopy cover of 30-60%. The forest cover height exceeds 2 meters. 

9= Savannas: Lands with herbaceous and other understory systems and forest canopy 

   cover of 10-30%. The forest cover height exceeds 2 meters.

10=Grasslands: Lands with herbaceous types of cover. Tree and shrub cover is 

   less than 10%. 

11=Permanent Wetlands: Lands with a permanent mixture of surface water and 

   herbaceous or woody vegetation. The vegetation can be present in either salt, 

   brackish, or fresh water. 

12=Croplands: Lands covered with temporary crops followed by harvest and a bare 

   soil period (e.g., single and multiple cropping systems). Note that perennial 

   woody crops will be classified as the appropriate forest or shrub land cover 

   type. 

13=Urban and Built-Up: Land primarily covered by buildings and other man-made 

   structures. Note that this class has not been mapped directly from MODIS data in 

   this provisional release. It is overlaid from the populated places layer from 

   the EDC Global Land Cover Characterization project (GLCC, 

   http://edcdaac.usgs.gov/glcc/glcc.html). 

14=Cropland/Natural Vegetation Mosaic: Lands with a mosaic of croplands, 

   forests, shrublands, and grasslands in which no one component comprises more 

   than 60% of the landscape. 

15=Permanent Snow and Ice: Lands under snow and/or ice cover throughout the year. 

16=Barren or Sparsely Vegetated: Lands with exposed soil, sand, rocks, or snow 

   that never has more than 10% vegetated cover during any time of the year. 

17=Unclassified: Artifacts due to discrepancies between the EDC GLCC water mask 

   and the JPL DEM. Found in coastal zones and mid-ocean islands in this 

   provisional release. 

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