ISLSCP - Vegetation: Land cover and Biophysics

The basis for this data set is the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data set calculated from AVHRR data by Los et al. (1994) following the work of Tucker et al. (1986).

These data were already in the form of a 1° x 1° monthly composited NDVI data set; i.e., no further single channel data or geometric information were available at the time. Some simple procedures were used to fill in gaps in the data set, and crude corrections were made to account for the effects of solar angle and persistent clouds to make the temporally and spatially continuous FASIR-NDVI product, see Sellers et al. (1994).

The FASIR-NDVI data were used to create fields of FPAR, leaf area index, and greenness, which in turn were used to calculate monthly snow- free albedo and surface roughness fields, see Sellers et al. (1994). The land/sea mask associated with these data sets was adopted as the standard for masking the other data placed on the CD-rom.

Documentation available on CD-rom (volume1)

• Background (soil/litter layer) reflectances
  
  
• Fraction of photosynthetic active radiation absorbed by the green vegetation canopy (FPAR)
  
  
• Fourier-Adjustment, Solar zenith angle corrected, Interpolated Reconstructed (FASIR) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)
  
  
• Percentage green leaf area of total leaf area
  
  
• Total Leaf Area Index (LAI)
  
  
• Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI)
  
  
• Roughness length (Zo)
  
  
• Calculated snow-free albedo
  
  
• Global land cover classification from satellite data
  
  

This data is available on Volume 1.