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    • Historical Land-Cover Change and Land-Use Conversions Global Dataset

    Metadata Updated: September 19, 2023

    A set of three estimates of land-cover types and annual transformations of land use are provided on a global 0.5 x0.5 degree lat/lon grid at annual time steps. The longest of the three estimates spans 1770-2010. The dataset presented here takes into account land-cover change due to four major land-use/management activities: (1) cropland expansion and abandonment, (2) pastureland expansion and abandonment, (3) urbanization, and (4) secondary forest regrowth due to wood harvest. Due to uncertainties associated with estimating historical agricultural (crops and pastures) land use, the study uses three widely accepted global reconstruction of cropland and pastureland in combination with common wood harvest and urban land data set to provide three distinct estimates of historical land-cover change and underlying land-use conversions. Hence, these distinct historical reconstructions offer a wide range of plausible regional estimates of uncertainty and extent to which different ecosystem have undergone changes. The three estimates use a consistent methodology, and start with a common land-cover map during pre-industrial conditions (year 1765), taking different courses as determined by the land-use/management datasets (cropland, pastureland, urbanization and wood harvest) to attain forest area distributions close to satellite estimates of forests for contemporary period. The satellite based estimates of forest area are based on MODIS sensor. All data uses the WGS84 spatial coordinate system for mapping.

    Access & Use Information

    License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

    Downloads & Resources

    Dates

    Metadata Date June 23, 2023
    Metadata Created Date February 3, 2023
    Metadata Updated Date September 19, 2023
    Reference Date(s) September 6, 2012 (publication)
    Frequency Of Update notPlanned

    Metadata Source

    Harvested from ncdc

    Other Data Resources

    Graphic Preview

    Sample view of data

    Additional Metadata

    Resource Type Dataset
    Metadata Date June 23, 2023
    Metadata Created Date February 3, 2023
    Metadata Updated Date September 19, 2023
    Reference Date(s) September 6, 2012 (publication)
    Responsible Party NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (Point of Contact); UI-UC/ATMO > Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Point of Contact)
    Contact Email
    Guid gov.noaa.ncdc:C00814
    Access Constraints Users must cite this dataset when used as a source., Distribution liability: NOAA and NCEI make no warranty, expressed or implied, regarding these data, nor does the fact of distribution constitute such a warranty. NOAA and NCEI cannot assume liability for any damages caused by any errors or omissions in these data. If appropriate, NCEI can only certify that the data it distributes are an authentic copy of the records that were accepted for inclusion in the NCEI archives., Use liability: NOAA and NCEI cannot provide any warranty as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of furnished data. Users assume responsibility to determine the usability of these data. The user is responsible for the results of any application of this data for other than its intended purpose.
    Bbox East Long 180.0
    Bbox North Lat 90.0
    Bbox South Lat -90.0
    Bbox West Long -180.0
    Coupled Resource
    Frequency Of Update notPlanned
    Graphic Preview Description Sample view of data
    Graphic Preview File https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/metadata/images/C00814_Sample.JPG
    Graphic Preview Type JPG
    Harvest Object Id d9b35e5d-ff2a-424c-9eb2-a479e9353663
    Harvest Source Id 2cb3ef77-1683-4c2a-9119-dc65e50917c6
    Harvest Source Title ncdc
    Licence
    Lineage Data were researched and produced by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Department of Atmospheric Sciences.
    Metadata Language eng; USA
    Metadata Type geospatial
    Old Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-180.0, -90.0], [180.0, -90.0], [180.0, 90.0], [-180.0, 90.0], [-180.0, -90.0]]]}
    Progress completed
    Spatial Data Service Type
    Spatial Reference System urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::4326
    Spatial Harvester True
    Temporal Extent Begin 1770-01-01
    Temporal Extent End 2010-12-31

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