Abstract

Development of a Land Cover Change Product for North America
Track: Imagery
Authors: Sheikh Hossain

The North American Land Change Monitoring System (NALCMS) is a collaborative initiative of Canada, Mexico, and the United States to monitor land cover and its changes over time. Based on satellite images, NALCMS data are designed to depict information about land cover and land cover change in a seamless, consistent and automated way across North America. Initial proof of concept U.S. research is presented here that outlines the semi- automated approach to create land cover change product at 250m. The development procedure depends upon change algorithms derived from MODIS imagery. Multiple change detection algorithms, including spectral change and decision tree approaches, are utilized to generate change products from the 250m MODIS bands. Multi-criteria voting methods are applied to delineate change areas from this hybrid approach. Testing results and future plans specific to the U.S. research are presented here will help the scientific community track continental patterns in land change dynamics.