A fractional vegetation cover remote sensing product on pan-arctic scale, Version 2, with link to geotiff image ...

• Main Authors: Urban, Marcel, Hese, Sören, Herold, Martin, Pöcking, Stefan, Schmullius, Christiane C
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2012
• Subjects: Satellite remote sensing; ESA Data User Element - Permafrost ESA-DUE-Permafrost; permafrost
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.780464; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.780464

In the high northern latitudes the vegetation cover and land surface structure is affected by seasonal freeze/thaw dynamics of the uppermost permafrost layer (active layer). The land cover in the arctic regions is characterized by low vegetation species (shrubs, grasses, mosses) in the northernmost regions as well as the boreal forest in the southern parts.The pan-arctic data product presented here is based on user requirements which were defined in the ESA DUE Permafrost for the coarse resolution vegetation observation variable. The user requirements have shown the need of percentage cover information for different vegetation physiognomy and barren areas. Therefore, fractional cover information for trees, shrubs, herbaceous and non-vegetated areas were extracted using coarse resolution global land cover products in a harmonization approach (Urban et al. 2010, doi:10.1127/1432-8364/2010/0056).As input MODIS Land Cover, GlobCover, Synmap as well as MODIS VCF (Vegetation Continuous Fields) were used. In the ...