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vegetation indexVegetation Index from AVHRR NDVI

 This dataset is produced as part of the NOAA/NASA Pathfinder AVHRR Land program (Townshend, 1994). It contains global monthly composites of the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) at 1° resolution covering the period from July 1981 to September 1994. This monthly climate dataset was recently updated, since the original data (the 8 km x 8 km 10-day composite) used for generating this monthly dataset was recently reprocessed. The Pathfinder Program produces long-term datasets derived from the observations made by Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometers (AVHRR) on the "afternoon" NOAA operational meteorological satellites (NOAA-7, -9, 11) and processed in a consistent manner for global change research.

Documentation available on CD-ROM


The data is available on Volume 1 of the CIDC CD set.




ocean CZCSOcean Pigment Concentration from CZCS

This dataset is a collection of monthly composites of ocean chlorophyll concentration derived from the Coastal Zone Colour Scanner (CZCS) instrument flown aboard the Nimbus-7 satellite from October 1978 through June 1986. This concentration provides a direct measure of the abundance of phytoplankton and its variability in space and time over most of the world's oceanic regions. The CZCS dataset represents the only source of satellite-derived, global oceanic biomass productivity, and serves as an important precursor to the next generation of advanced ocean colour instruments ( Feldman et al., 1989). These include the Sea-Viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS), launched on August 1, 1997, and future missions conducted as part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth program.

Documentation available on CD-ROM


The data is available on Volume 1 of the CIDC CD set.




land coverGlobal Land Cover from ISLSCP

Land cover is described in terms of 13 vegetation types plus water, ice and bare desert soil. Phenological differences among vegetation types, reflected in temporal variations in NDVI derived from satellite data, have been used to classify land cover at continental scales. This study explored methodologies for extending this concept to a global scale (DeFries and Townshend 1994a). A coarse resolution (1° x 1°) dataset of monthly NDVI values for 1987 (Los et al. 1994, Sellers, et al. 1994,   1995b) was used as the basis for a supervised classification of eleven cover types that broadly represent the major biomes of the world. Because of missing values at high latitudes, the Pathfinder AVHRR dataset for 1987 (James and Kalluri, 1994) for summer monthly NDVI and red reflectance values were used to distinguish the following cover types: tundra, high latitude deciduous forest and woodland, coniferous evergreen forest and woodland.

The land cover dataset was further modified to be consistent with the SiB vegetation classes described in Dorman and Sellers, (1989), Sellers et. al. (1995a) and Sellers et. al. (1995b). This dataset is also available on the ISLSCP Initiative I CD-ROM set.

Documentation available on CD-ROM


The data is available on Volume 1 of the CIDC CD set.