Land Cover Focus Area Contributions to International Structures
GCOS
GCOS target requirements for Land Cover were set as follows (GCOS-200):
| Variable/Parameter | Horizontal Resolution | Vertical Resolution | Temporal Resolution | Accuracy | Stability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maps of land cover | 250 m | N/A | 1 year | 15% (maximum error of omission and comission in mapping individual classes), location accuracy better than 1/3 IFOV with target IFOV 250 m | 15% (maximum error of omission and comission in mapping individual classes), location accuracy better than 1/3 IFOV with target IFOV 250 m |
| Maps of high-resolution land cover | 10-30 m | N/A | 5 years | 5% (maximum error of omission and comission in mapping individual classes), location accuracy better than 1/3 IFOV with target IFOV 10-30 m | 15% (maximum error of omission and comission in mapping individual classes), location accuracy better than 1/3 IFOV with target IFOV 10-30 m |
| Maps of key IPCC land use, related changes and land management types | 10-1000 m (depending on time period) | N/A | 1-10 years (including historical data) | 20% (maximum error of omission and commission in mapping individual classes), location accuracy better than 1/3 IFOV with target IFOV | 20% (maximum error of omission and commission in mapping individual classes), location accuracy better than 1/3 IFOV with target IFOV |
LPV Land cover focus area contributes towards Action items T37, T47, T48, T49, T50, T51 (GCOS-200).
GTOS Land Cover Document
Herold, M., C. Woodcock, J. Cihlar, M. Wulder, O. Arino, F. Achard, M. Hansen, H. Olsson, C. Schmulllius, M. Brady, A. Di Gregorio, J. Latham, R. Sessa, 2009. Land Cover, ECV-T9: GTOS Assessment of the status of the development of standards for the Terrestrial Essential Climate Variables, ed., R. Sessa, FAO, Rome.
GOFC-GOLD
The land cover validation activities are closely coordinated with the land cover team of GOFC-GOLD and its related project office funded by the European Space Agency.
GEOGLAM Essential Agricultural Variables
The purpose of Group on Earth Observations Global Agricultural Monitoring (GEOGLAM) Initiative is to increase market transparency and improve food security by producing and disseminating relevant, timely, and actionable information on agricultural conditions and outlook on production at national, regional, and global scales. It achieves this by strengthening the international community's capacity to utilize coordinated, comprehensive, and sustained Earth Observations.
Since 2011, the GEOGLAM community has been growing at a steady pace, collaborating with more and more international initiatives. Over time, demand has increased for quantitative estimations of cropland and rangeland state and change. Consequently, GEOGLAM is working on the definition of the minimum set of variables required to meet current and evolving policy drivers. These are referred to as Essential Agricultural Variables (EAVs) for GEOGLAM.
Cropland Validation Workshop (Sept 2023)
In a collaborative effort to enhance the accuracy and consistency of cropland and crop type mapping, NASA sponsored a workshop jointly organized by the LPV Land Cover focus area of the CEOS Working Group on Calibration and Validation (WGCV) and by the Group on Earth Observations Global Agricultural Monitoring (GEOGLAM) Essential Agricultural Variables Working Group. The workshop was hosted by USDA BARC and held at the National Agricultural Library in Beltsville, Maryland from Sept. 12 to 14, 2023.
The workshop provided a very productive forum to gather numerous international experts from the fields of cropland and crop type mapping and map validation. A summary report from the workshop can be viewed here.
