The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)’s Land Cover program has leveraged methodologies from legacy land cover projects - National Land Cover Database (NLCD) and Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection (LCMAP) - together with modern innovations in geospatial deep learning technologies to create the next generation of land cover and land change information. The product suite is called, “Annual NLCD” and includes six annual products that represent land cover and surface change characteristics of the U.S.:
Land Cover
Land Cover Change
Land Cover Confidence
Fractional Impervious Surface
Impervious Descriptor
Spectral Change Day of Year
These land cover science algorithms harness the remotely sensed Landsat data record to provide the land surface change information needed by scientists, resource managers, and decision-makers. Annual NLCD uses a modernized, integrated approach to map, monitor, synthesize, and understand the complexities of land use, cover, and condition change. With this first release - Annual NLCD, Collection 1.0 - the six products mentioned above are available for the Conterminous U.S. for 1985 – 2023.
Questions about the Annual NLCD product suite can be directed to the Annual NLCD mapping team at USGS EROS, Sioux Falls, SD (605) 594-6151 or custserv@usgs.gov. See included spatial metadata for more details.
