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Full catalog/Continuous_Lifeform_Maps_CONUS_1809
Continuous_Lifeform_Maps_CONUS_1809·v1·dataset

Plant cover types across the US from Landsat (1984-2018)

CMS: Vegetative Lifeform Cover from Landsat SR for CONUS, 1984-2018
biosphere NASA ORNL_CLOUD Level 3 GeoTIFF
In plain English

What it measures. Maps showing the percentage of ground covered by trees, shrubs, herbs, and non-vegetation across the continental U.S., year by year from 1984 to 2018, at 30-meter detail, with uncertainty estimates.

How it's made. Produced with statistical (random forest) models that combined Landsat surface-color imagery with airborne LiDAR datasets, including NASA's G-LiHT and NEON collections.

How & where you'd use it. Useful for tracking long-term changes in vegetation cover and land use across the United States.

What's measured

BIOSPHERE › ECOSYSTEMS › TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS › DESERTSLAND SURFACE › SURFACE RADIATIVE PROPERTIES › REFLECTANCEBIOSPHERE › ECOSYSTEMS › TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS › FORESTSBIOSPHERE › ECOSYSTEMS › TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS › GRASSLANDSBIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › FOREST COMPOSITION/VEGETATION STRUCTURELAND SURFACE › LAND USE/LAND COVER › LAND USE/LAND COVER CLASSIFICATIONBIOSPHERE › ECOSYSTEMS › TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS › ALPINE/TUNDRA

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span1984-01-01 → 2018-12-31
  • Measured byMODELS (Computer) · LANDSAT-5 (TM) · G-LiHT (LIDAR) · LANDSAT-7 (ETM+)
  • Processing levelLevel 3
  • Spatial extent-126.714, 23.2663, -65.0638, 50.6625
  • FormatsGeoTIFF
  • StatusCOMPLETE

What you can do with it

  • Map vegetation, forests and biomass
  • Monitor ecosystem productivity and carbon
  • Support habitat and biodiversity studies
Official description

This dataset contains estimates of percent cover of tree, shrub, herb, and other (non-vegetation) lifeform classes and uncertainties for the conterminous U.S. (CONUS). The estimates were derived using quantile regression forest models and indicate the percent of ground covered by a vertical projection of each lifeform class ranging from 0 to 100 percent. Model input data included Landsat surface reflectance (SR) data and 165 airborne LiDAR datasets covering eight of the eleven terrestrial biomes of the conterminous U.S. and Alaska. Eighty-six of the LiDAR acquisitions are part of the NASA Goddard's LiDAR, Hyperspectral, and Thermal Imager (G-LiHT) airborne imager data collection; the remaining 79 sites were acquired by the National Science Foundation's National Ecological Observatory Network Airborne Observation Platform (NEON AOP). Acquisitions were selected based on the availability of the SR data for each G-LiHT and NEON dataset. The data are annual estimates from 1984 to 2018 and were tiled (425 tiles) using the CONUS Landsat Analysis Ready Data (ARD) grid scheme. Data are provided in GeoTIFF format.

Get the data

continuous_lifeform_maps_conus_1809_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="Continuous_Lifeform_Maps_CONUS_1809",
    version="1",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from ORNL_CLOUD
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.