Skip to main content

Description

The Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC) archives and distributes Global Forest Cover Change (GFCC) data products through the NASA Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) Program. The GFCC Tree Cover Multi-Year Global dataset is available for four epochs centered on the years 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015. The dataset is derived from the GFCC Surface Reflectance product (GFCC30SR), which is based on enhanced Global Land Survey (GLS) datasets. The GLS datasets are composed of high-resolution Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) and Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) images at 30 meter resolution. GFCC30TC provides tree canopy information and can be used to understand forest changes. Each tree cover product features four files associated with it; a tree cover layer with an embedded color map, a tree cover error (uncertainty) file, and an index (provenance) file, plus a list of path/rows that relate to the Surface Reflectance input files. Note that the index file and file list were not generated for the 2015 epoch. Data follow the Worldwide Reference System-2 tiling scheme. Additional details regarding the methodology used to create the data are available in the Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document (ATBD).

Product Summary

Platforms
LANDSAT-7 ,
LANDSAT-5 ,
Terra
Instruments
ETM+ ,
TM ,
ASTER ,
MODIS
Spatial Extent

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

Spatial Resolution
30 Meters x 30 Meters
Location
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
GEODETIC
Temporal Extent
2000-01-01 to 2015-12-31
Temporal Resolution
1 Year
Data Partner
Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC) ,
Global Land Cover Facility, University of Maryland (UMD/GLCF)
Concept ID
C2763266352-LPCLOUD
Data State
COMPLETE
Number of Files/Granules
31208
Processing Level
3
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Forest Management

Citation

Citation is critically important for dataset documentation and discovery. This dataset is openly shared, without restriction, in accordance with the EOSDIS Data Use and Citation Guidance.

Copy Citation

Townshend, J. (2016). Global Forest Cover Change (GFCC) Tree Cover Multi-Year Global 30 m V003 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/MEASURES/GFCC/GFCC30TC.003 Date Accessed: 2026-05-01

File Naming Convention

p039r034_TC_2015.tif

The file name begins with the WRS-2 Path and Row (p039r034) followed by the abbreviated Short Name (TC), the year formatted as YYYY (2015), and the Data Format (tif).

Documents

Publications Citing This Dataset

Filters
Title Year Author Topic
Mapping Spatial Drivers of Predicted Active Fires Kernel Density with Monjaras-Vega, Norma Angelica, Vega-Nieva, Daniel Jose, Briones-Herrera, Carlos Ivan, Briseno-Reyes, Jaime, Corral-Rivas, Jose Javier, Lopez-Serrano, Pablito Marcelo, Pompa-Garcia, Marin, Cerano-Paredes, Julian, Perez Salicrup, Diego Rafael, Jolly, William Matthew, Alvarado-Celestino, Ernesto Forest Management
Habitat suitability of Indian muntjac (Muntiacus Narayana, Karunya, Ashish, K., Barik, Subhadra, Kotharambath, Ramachandran, Kalle, Riddhika, Ramesh, T. Terrain Elevation, Digital Elevation/Terrain Model (DEM), Topographical Relief Maps, Forest Management
An ecological cascade links climatic variability to avian irruptions and zoonotic salmonellosis outbreaks Tonelli, Benjamin A., Youngflesh, Casey, Tingley, Morgan W. Maximum/Minimum Temperature, 24 Hour Precipitation Amount, Snow Water Equivalent, Shortwave Radiation, Vapor Pressure, Forest Management
LegacyVegetation: Northern Hemisphere reconstruction of past plant cover Schild, Laura, Ewald, Peter, Li, Chenzhi, Hebert, Raphael, Laepple, Thomas, Herzschuh, Ulrike Forest Management
Global digital elevation model (GDEM) product generation by correcting ASTER GDEM elevation with ICESat-2 altimeter data Li, Binbin, Xie, Huan, Liu, Shijie, Ye, Zhen, Hong, Zhonghua, Weng, Qihao, Sun, Yuan, Xu, Qi, Tong, Xiaohua Terrain Elevation, Digital Elevation/Terrain Model (DEM), Topographical Relief Maps, Forest Management
Hit where it hurts: City vulnerability during wartime Reeder, Bryce W, Uzonyi, Gary Terrain Elevation, Digital Elevation/Terrain Model (DEM), Topographical Relief Maps, Forest Management
Pervasive but biome-dependent relationship between fragmentation and resilience in forests Su, Yongxian, Zhang, Chaoqun, Cescatti, Alessandro, Yu, Kailiang, Ciais, Philippe, Smith, Taylor, Shang, Jiali, Carnicer, Jofre, Liu, Jane, Chen, Jing Ming, Green, Julia K., Wu, Jianping, Ponce-Campos, Guillermo E., Zhang, Yongguang, Zuo, Zhiyan, Liao, Jinbao, Wu, Jianping, Lafortezza, Raffaele, Yan, Kai, Yang, Xueqin, Liu, Liyang, Ren, Jiashun, Yuan, Wenping, Chen, Xiuzhi, Wu, Chaoyang, Zhou, Weiqi Albedo, Anisotropy, Forest Management, Emissivity, Land Surface Temperature, Leaf Characteristics, Photosynthetically Active Radiation, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Carbon emissions from fires in Eastern Siberian larch forests Delcourt, Clement J. F., Rogers, Brendan M., Akhmetzyanov, Linar, Izbicki, Brian, Scholten, Rebecca C., Shestakova, Tatiana A., van Wees, Dave, Mack, Michelle C., SassKlaassen, Ute, Veraverbeke, Sander Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area, Forest Management, Land Surface Temperature, THERMAL ANOMALIES, Vegetation Cover, Forests, Surface Temperature, Precipitation Amount, Fire Dynamics, Carbon, Biomass, Soil Moisture/Water Content, Topographic Effects
Regression coefficient estimation from remote sensing maps Lu, Kerri, Kluger, Dan M., Bates, Stephen, Wang, Sherrie Forest Management
A Geostatistics-Based Tool to Characterize Spatio-Temporal Patterns of TorresRojas, L., Waterman, T., Cai, J., Zorzetto, E., Wainwright, H. M., Chaney, N. W. Evapotranspiration, Photosynthesis, Primary Production, Latent Heat Flux, Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Forest Management
Estimating forest extent across Mexico Braden, Dustin, Mondal, Pinki, Park, Taejin, Alanis de la Rosa, Jose Armando, Aldrete Leal, Metzli Ileana, Cuenca Lara, Rubi Angelica, Mayorga Saucedo, Rafael, Paz, Fernando, Salas-Aguilar, Victor Manuel, Soriano-Luna, Maria de Los Angeles, Vargas, Rodrigo Forest Management, Canopy Characteristics, Forests, Vegetation Cover
Spatial heterogeneity facilitates coexistence between striped hyaenas Ashish, K., Ramesh, T., Kalle, Riddhika, Giordano, Anthony J. Terrain Elevation, Digital Elevation/Terrain Model (DEM), Topographical Relief Maps, Forest Management
Assessment of the acoustic adaptation hypothesis in frogs using Gillard, G. L., Rowley, J. J. L. Forest Management
Corridor-based approach with spatial cross-validation reveals Palm, Eric C., Landguth, Erin L., Holden, Zachary A., Day, Casey C., Lamb, Clayton T., Frame, Paul F., Morehouse, Andrea T., Mowat, Garth, Proctor, Michael F., Sawaya, Michael A., Stenhouse, Gordon, Whittington, Jesse, Zeller, Katherine A. Forest Management
A Structural Equation Modeling Approach to Disentangling Regional-Scale Landscape Dynamics in Ghana Peeling, Julie A., Singh, Aditya, Judge, Jasmeet Albedo, Anisotropy, Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Evapotranspiration, Latent Heat Flux, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Forest Management
Changes over time matterA cycle of participatory sustainability assessment of organic coffee in Chiapas, Mexico Jimenez-Ortega, Aldo Daniel, Aguilar Ibarra, Alonso, Galeana-Pizana, J. Mauricio, Nunez, Juan Manuel Forest Management
A Method of Extracting High-Accuracy Elevation Control Points from ICESat-2 Altimetry Data Li, Binbin, Xie, Huan, Liu, Shijie, Tong, Xiaohua, Tang, Hong, Wang, Xu Forest Management
Inland water body mapping using multitemporal Sentinel-1 SAR data Marzi, David, Gamba, Paolo Forest Management, Forest Harvesting and Engineering, Total Surface Water
Evaluating the Differenced Normalized Burn Ratio for Assessing Fire Severity Using Sentinel-2 Imagery in Northeast Siberian Larch Forests Delcourt, Clement J. F., Combee, Alisha, Izbicki, Brian, Mack, Michelle C., Maximov, Trofim, Petrov, Roman, Rogers, Brendan M., Scholten, Rebecca C., Shestakova, Tatiana A., van Wees, Dave, Veraverbeke, Sander Forest Management
Global land characterisation using land cover fractions at 100 m resolution Masiliunas, Dainius, Tsendbazar, Nandin-Erdene, Herold, Martin, Lesiv, Myroslava, Buchhorn, Marcel, Verbesselt, Jan Terrain Elevation, Digital Elevation/Terrain Model (DEM), Topographical Relief Maps, Forest Management
Optimization of Roof Greening Spatial Planning to Cool Down the Summer of the City ZHUANG, Qinru, LU, Zhongming Forest Management
Remotely sensed tree canopy cover-based indicators for monitoring global sustainability and environmental initiatives Estoque, Ronald C, Johnson, Brian A, Gao, Yan, DasGupta, Rajarshi, Ooba, Makoto, Togawa, Takuya, Hijioka, Yasuaki, Murayama, Yuji, Gavina, Lilito D, Lasco, Rodel D, Nakamura, Shogo Canopy Characteristics, Evergreen Vegetation, Crown, Deciduous Vegetation, Leaf Characteristics, Vegetation Cover, Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Forest Management
Remotely sensed tree canopy cover-based indicators for monitoring global sustainability and environmental initiatives Liu, Lei, Zheng, Wei-Min Forest Management
Snow property inversion from remote sensing (SPIReS): A generalized multispectral unmixing approach with examples from MODIS and Landsat 8 OLI Bair, Edward H., Stillinger, Timbo, Dozier, Jeff Canopy Characteristics, Evergreen Vegetation, Crown, Deciduous Vegetation, Leaf Characteristics, Vegetation Cover, Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Reflectance, Total Surface Water, Forest Management, Snow Depth
Environmental cooling provided by urban trees under extreme heat and cold waves in US cities Wang, Chenghao, Wang, Zhi-Hua, Wang, Chuyuan, Myint, Soe W. Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Canopy Characteristics, Evergreen Vegetation, Crown, Deciduous Vegetation, Leaf Characteristics, Vegetation Cover, Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Forest Management
You're viewing 25 of 25

Variables

The table below lists the variables contained within a single granule for this dataset. Variables often contain observed or derived geophysical measurements collected from a variety of sources, including remote sensing instruments on satellite and airborne platforms, field campaigns, in situ measurements, and model outputs. The terms variable, parameter, scientific data set, layer, and band have been used across NASA’s Earth science disciplines; however, variable is the designated nomenclature in NASA’s Common Metadata Repository (CMR). Variable metadata attributes such as Name, Description, Units, Data Type, Fill Value, Valid Range, and Scale Factor allow users to efficiently process and analyze the data. The full range of attributes may not be applicable to all variables. Additional information on variable attributes is typically available in the data, user guide, and/or other product documentation.

For questions on a specific variable, please use the Earthdata Forum.

Name Description Units Data Type Fill Value Valid Range Scale Factor Offset
TC Tree Cover Percent uint8 200 0 to 100 N/A N/A
TC.err Tree Cover Error Percent float32 -9999 0 to 4294966531 N/A N/A
TC.idx Tree Cover Index N/A uint8 0 1 to 255 N/A N/A
You're viewing 3 of 3