Land Use/Land Cover Data Access and Tools

NASA data range from global assessments of snow cover albedo to food insecurity cropland extent measurements. Our datasets and tools help researchers translate these interconnected data points into actionable knowledge.

Commonly Used Land Cover/Crop Extent Data at a Glance

Spatial Resolution	Spatial Coverage	Temporal Resolution	Temporal Coverage	Spectral Resolution	Satellite/ Platform	Sensor(s)/ Model Name	Observation or Model	File Format
500 m	Global	1-2 days	2001-2021	36 bands ranging from 0.4 µm to 14.4 µm	Terra and Aqua	MODIS	Observation	HDF-EOS
30 m, 90 m, 1 km	Regional datasets	Multi-year	2007-2016 (varies)	Varies	Derived from Landsat data	GFSAD	Observation	GeoTIFF
30 m	Global	Yearly	2001-2019	Varies	Derived from Landsat data	GLanCE	Observation	GeoTIFF

Land Use/Land Cover Data Tools

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Tool Sort descending	Description	Services
RTC Stack Processor	The radiometric terrain correction (RTC) stack processor tool facilitates time-series analysis of such phenomena as flooding events, deforestation, or glacier retreat.	Analysis, Processing, Search and Discovery, Visualization
VEDA	NASA's Visualization, Exploration, and Data Analysis (VEDA) project is an open-source science cyberinfrastructure for data processing, visualization, exploration, and geographic information systems (GIS) capabilities.	Access, Analysis, Processing, Visualization, Geoprocessing
Vertex	Vertex is a graphical search interface for finding synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data.	Search and Discovery, Access, Downloading, Processing, Subsetting
Worldview	Worldview offers the capability to interactively browse over 1,200 global, full-resolution satellite imagery layers and download the underlying data.	Analysis, Search and Discovery, Visualization, Access, Comparison, Monitoring Natural Events

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Featured Land Use/Land Cover Observation Method: Sentinel-1

Sentinel-1 is a European Space Agency (ESA) satellites designed to acquire Earth-observation measurements and carries a C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) to provide all-weather, day-and-night imagery of Earth's surface. The platform was launched on April 3, 2014, and images Earth every six days. Sentinel-1 SAR data can reveal the surface roughness of the land, oil and vegetation moisture content, and vegetation density. The dadar data can also be used to determine water surface conditions such as waviness and identify water inundation into inland areas and beneath forest canopies.

Learn More About Sentinel-1

Earthdata graphic identifier on top of image of Earth

Sentinel-1 Images Reveal Changes in the Earth’s Surface Over One Year

NASA's ASF DAAC released the Global Seasonal Sentinel-1 Interferometric Coherence and Backscatter Dataset.

HLS: Two Together Better than Two Apart

The purpose of the Harmonized Landsat Sentinel-2 (HLS) project led by IMPACT, is to combine two or more data streams into a single data set and increase their value.

Automatically Generate a Radiometrically Terrain-Corrected Sentinel-1 Image Using Cloud Computing

Learn how to use the CloudFormation Template to automate the processing of Sentinel-1 radiometrically terrain-corrected (RTC) products.

The rectangular image is a map of the St. Simons Island area of coastal Georgia. Land is colored white, roadways are black, inundated vegetation area are green, and water is colored blue. The Atlantic Ocean is in the lower-right of the image and its blue shaded area extends into waterways along the coast.

New Product Provides Detailed Maps of Water In and Around Landmasses

Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data are used to create maps of surface water extent for research, planning, and disaster response.

Land Use/Land Cover Datasets

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Dataset	Platforms	Instruments	Temporal Extent	Location Keywords	Spatial Extent	Data Format
Last of the Wild Project, Version 2, 2005 (LWP-2): Global Human Influence Index (HII) Dataset (IGHP)	MODELS	Computer	1995-01-01 to 2004-12-31	GLOBAL	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	Grid
Last of the Wild Project, Version 2, 2005 (LWP-2): Last of the Wild Dataset (Geographic)	MODELS	Computer	1995-01-01 to 2004-12-31	AFRICA, ASIA, EUROPE, GLOBAL, NORTH AMERICA	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	Shapefile, PDF, PNG, WMS
Last of the Wild Project, Version 2, 2005 (LWP-2): Last of the Wild Dataset (IGHP)	MODELS	Computer	1995-01-01 to 2004-12-31	GLOBAL	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	Shapefile
Last of the Wild Project, Version 3 (LWP-3): 1993 Human Footprint, 2018 Release	MODELS	Computer	1993-01-01 to 1993-12-31	GLOBAL	N: 90 S: -65.25 E: 180 W: -180	GeoTIFF, PDF, PNG, WMS
Last of the Wild Project, Version 3 (LWP-3): 2009 Human Footprint, 2018 Release	MODELS	Computer	2009-01-01 to 2009-12-31	GLOBAL	N: 90 S: -65.25 E: 180 W: -180	GeoTIFF, PDF, PNG, WMS
LBA Regional Carbon in Live Vegetation, 0.5-degree (Olson)	NOT APPLICABLE	NOT APPLICABLE	1960-01-01 to 1980-01-01		N: 10 S: -25 E: -30 W: -85	Binary
LBA Regional Historical Croplands, 5-min, 1900-1992 (Ramankutty and Foley)	GROUND-BASED OBSERVATIONS	VISUAL OBSERVATIONS	1900-01-01 to 1992-12-31		N: 5 S: -18 E: -35 W: -80	multiple
LBA Regional Hydrographic Data, 1-Degree, Release 2.2 (Cogley)	NOT APPLICABLE	NOT APPLICABLE	1970-01-01 to 1990-01-01		N: 10 S: -25 E: -30 W: -85	multiple
LBA Regional Land Cover from AVHRR, 1-Degree, 1987 (Defries and Townshend)	NOAA-9, NOAA-10, NOAA-11	AVHRR	1987-01-01 to 1987-12-31		N: 10 S: -25 E: -30 W: -85	multiple
LBA Regional Land Cover from AVHRR, 1-km, 1992-1993 (Hansen et al.)	NOAA-10, NOAA-9, NOAA-11	AVHRR	1992-01-01 to 1993-12-31		N: 10 S: -25 E: -30 W: -85	multiple

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Frequently Asked Questions

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