EROS is central to the creation of the National Land Cover Database (NLCD), which is updated every five years and stands as the definitive land cover database for the United States.
NLCD is generated in cooperation with the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium (MRLC) a partnership of Federal agencies working together to produce current, nationally consistent, land cover products for all 50 states and Puerto Rico.
Click here to learn about NLCD 2019.
NLCD is used for thousands of applications that require information on landcover location or where it is changing.
The latest iteration is NCLD 2019. It contains 28 different land cover products characterizing land cover and land cover change across 8 epochs from 2001-2019, urban imperviousness and urban imperviousness change across 8 epochs, tree canopy and tree canopy change across 2 epochs from 2011-2016 and western U.S. shrub and grassland areas for 2016. Data are available on the MRLC website, either as prepackaged products or custom product areas can be interactively chosen using the MRLC viewer.
NLCD 2019 offers land cover for years 2001, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2019, as well as impervious surface and impervious descriptor layers for each epoch. These products update all previously released versions of landcover and impervious products for CONUS (NLCD 2001, NLCD 2006, NLCD 2011, NLCD 2016) and are not directly comparable to previous products. NLCD 2019 land cover and impervious surface product versions of previous dates must be downloaded for proper comparison.
NLCD also includes an NLCD Land Cover Change Index. This index provides a simple and comprehensive way to visualize change from all 8 dates of land cover in a single layer. The change index was designed to assist NLCD users to understand complex land cover change with a single product.
NLCD's impervious surface descriptor product identifies types of roads, core urban areas, and energy production sites for each impervious pixel to allow deeper analysis of developed features. NLCD 2019 also includes a wind energy layer across all impervious products.
Click here for a podcast on NLCD 2019. Tap the tabs above to explore related science, multimedia, and news on NLCD.
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Eyes on Earth Episode 54 – National Land Cover Database 2019
Eyes on Earth is a podcast on remote sensing, Earth observation, land change and science, brought to you by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. In this episode, we learn about the latest land cover release from EROS.
Eyes on Earth Episode 42 – Rangelands of the U.S.
Eyes on Earth is a podcast on remote sensing, Earth observation, land change and science, brought to you by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. In this episode, we hear how Landsat helps monitor vulnerable rangelands in the Western U.S.
LCMAP and NLCD: Complementary Data for Understanding the Geography of the United States
Eyes on Earth Episode 3 - National Land Cover Database
Eyes on Earth is a podcast on remote sensing, Earth observation, land change and science, brought to you by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. In this episode, we talk about the National Land Cover Database.
Western U.S. Cheatgrass and Shrubland Monitoring
National Land Cover Database Visualization and Information Tool
- Overview
EROS is central to the creation of the National Land Cover Database (NLCD), which is updated every five years and stands as the definitive land cover database for the United States.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.NLCD helps scientists understand Landsat observations by turning them into pixel-by-pixel maps of specific features. The left frame of the image pair above shows the Dallas, TX area. The right frame shows NLCD's “Impervious Descriptor” data layer - the first and only nationwide, Landsat-scale map of roadways and oil production facilities in the U.S. The image above depicts on-the-ground conditions during the year 2016, but data are also available for 2011, 2006, and 2001.Used separately or in combination with NLCD products like the Urban Imperviousness, the dataset can be used to investigate questions on changes to the Nation’s transportation infrastructure and its impact on the wider ecosystem, wildlife habitat, human health, and more. NLCD is generated in cooperation with the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium (MRLC) a partnership of Federal agencies working together to produce current, nationally consistent, land cover products for all 50 states and Puerto Rico.
Click here to learn about NLCD 2019.
NLCD is used for thousands of applications that require information on landcover location or where it is changing.
The latest iteration is NCLD 2019. It contains 28 different land cover products characterizing land cover and land cover change across 8 epochs from 2001-2019, urban imperviousness and urban imperviousness change across 8 epochs, tree canopy and tree canopy change across 2 epochs from 2011-2016 and western U.S. shrub and grassland areas for 2016. Data are available on the MRLC website, either as prepackaged products or custom product areas can be interactively chosen using the MRLC viewer.
NLCD 2019 offers land cover for years 2001, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2019, as well as impervious surface and impervious descriptor layers for each epoch. These products update all previously released versions of landcover and impervious products for CONUS (NLCD 2001, NLCD 2006, NLCD 2011, NLCD 2016) and are not directly comparable to previous products. NLCD 2019 land cover and impervious surface product versions of previous dates must be downloaded for proper comparison.
NLCD also includes an NLCD Land Cover Change Index. This index provides a simple and comprehensive way to visualize change from all 8 dates of land cover in a single layer. The change index was designed to assist NLCD users to understand complex land cover change with a single product.
NLCD's impervious surface descriptor product identifies types of roads, core urban areas, and energy production sites for each impervious pixel to allow deeper analysis of developed features. NLCD 2019 also includes a wind energy layer across all impervious products.
Click here for a podcast on NLCD 2019. Tap the tabs above to explore related science, multimedia, and news on NLCD.
- Science
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Eyes on Earth Episode 54 – National Land Cover Database 2019
Eyes on Earth is a podcast on remote sensing, Earth observation, land change and science, brought to you by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. In this episode, we learn about the latest land cover release from EROS.
Eyes on Earth Episode 42 – Rangelands of the U.S.
Eyes on Earth is a podcast on remote sensing, Earth observation, land change and science, brought to you by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. In this episode, we hear how Landsat helps monitor vulnerable rangelands in the Western U.S.
LCMAP and NLCD: Complementary Data for Understanding the Geography of the United States
Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection (LCMAP) Collection 1 science products provide unprecedented monitoring of past changes occurring in land cover and condition across the conterminous U.S. over more than 30 years at an annual timestep.Eyes on Earth Episode 3 - National Land Cover Database
Eyes on Earth is a podcast on remote sensing, Earth observation, land change and science, brought to you by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. In this episode, we talk about the National Land Cover Database.
Western U.S. Cheatgrass and Shrubland Monitoring
The USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center National Land Cover Database team in collaboration with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has produced the most comprehensive remote-sensing based quantification of western United States shrublands to date.National Land Cover Database Visualization and Information Tool
The National Land Cover Database (NLCD) serves as the definitive Landsat-based, 30-meter resolution, land cover database for the Nation. NLCD supports a wide variety of Federal, State, local, and nongovernmental applications that seek to assess ecosystem status and health, understand the spatial patterns of biodiversity, predict effects of climate change, and develop land management policy. Howeve - Data
- Multimedia
- Publications
- News