Ecological Potential Fractional Component Cover Based on Long-Term Satellite Observations Across the Western United States

Rangelands have immense inherent spatial and temporal variability, yet assessments of land condition and trends are often assessed relative to the condition of a limited number of representative points. Ecological Potential (EP) data are spatially comprehensive, quantitative, and needed as a baseline for comparison of current rangeland vegetation conditions, trends, and management targets. We define EP as the potential fractional cover of vegetation components bare ground, herbaceous, litter, shrub, and sagebrush represented in the least disturbed and most productive portion of the western U.S. This dataset enables: 1) setting realistic expectations for restoration and management targets at 30-meter resolution,...

Tags: Annual Herbaceous, Arizona, Bare Ground, California, Colorado, All tags... Desert, Ecological Potential, Great Basin, Herbaceous, Idaho, Land Use Change, Landsat, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North America, Oregon, Plateau, Remote Sensing, Remote sensing, Sagebrush, Shrub, Sonoran, U.S., US, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), United States, United States, Utah, Washington, Western States, Wyoming, biota, ecological competition, ecological processes, environment, fractional cover, imageryBaseMapsEarthCover, land cover, long-term ecological monitoring, rangeland, rangelands site potential, shrubland, Fewer tags

Temporal and Spatio-Temporal High-Resolution Satellite Data for the Validation of a Landsat Time-Series of Fractional Component Cover Across Western United States (U.S.) Rangelands

Western U.S. rangelands have been quantified as six fractional cover (0-100%) components over the Landsat archive (1985-2018) at 30-m resolution, termed the “Back-in-Time” (BIT) dataset. Robust validation through space and time is needed to quantify product accuracy. We leverage field data observed concurrently with HRS imagery over multiple years and locations in the Western U.S. to dramatically expand the spatial extent and sample size of validation analysis relative to a direct comparison to field observations and to previous work. We compare HRS and BIT data in the corresponding space and time. Our objectives were to evaluate the temporal and spatio-temporal relationships between HRS and BIT data, and to compare...

Categories: Data; Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: Central Basin and Range, Land Use Change, MT, Montana, NV, All tags... Nevada, Northern Basin and Range, Northwestern Great Plains, Southern Rockies, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), United States, WY, Wyoming, Wyoming Basin, annual herbaceous, back-in-time, bare ground, big sagebrush, biota, environment, fractional components, geoscientificInformation, grass, herbaceous, imageryBaseMapsEarthCover, litter, rangelands, remote sensing, sagebrush, shrub, shrubland, shrubland ecosystems, shrublands, terrestrial ecosystems, time-series, validation, vegetation, Fewer tags