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Data

Seasonal Ground Cover - Landsat, JRSRP Algorithm, Australia Coverage 

Ver: 1.0
Status of Data: superseded
Update Frequency: notPlanned
Security Classification: unclassified
Dataset Published: 2021-03-31
Dataset Last Modified: 2026-08-18
Metadata viewed 306247 times
Dataset accessed 622 times
Metadata Created: 2014-05-01
Metadata Last Modified: 2026-08-19
How to cite this collection:
Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation, Queensland Government (2021). Seasonal Ground Cover - Landsat, JRSRP Algorithm, Australia Coverage. Version 1.0. Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network. Dataset. https://portal.tern.org.au/metadata/65878a57-f1b0-4e6b-8e7a-8a38ebe7960e 
Data can be accessed from the following links:
HTTPVegmachine Timeseries Viewer
HTTPSeasonal Ground Cover by HTTP
HTTPForage Report (QLD only)
HTTPseasonal_ground_cover_landsat_filenaming_convention_zIflZm4.txt
HTTPPoint-of-truth metadata URL
HTTPro-crate-metadata.json
This product has been superseded and will not be processed from early 2023. Please find the updated version 3 of this product at https://portal.tern.org.au/metadata/TERN/fe9d86e1-54e8-4866-a61c-0422aee8c699. The seasonal fractional ground cover product shows the proportion of bare ground, green and non-green ground cover and is derived directly from the seasonal fractional cover product, also produced by Queensland's Remote Sensing Centre. The seasonal fractional cover product is a spatially explicit raster product, which predicts vegetation cover at medium resolution (30 m per-pixel) for each 3-month calendar season. However, the seasonal fractional cover product does not distinguish tree and mid-level woody foliage and branch cover from green and dry ground cover. As a result, in areas with even minimal tree cover (>15%), estimates of ground cover become uncertain. With the development of the fractional cover time-series, it has become possible to derive an estimate of ‘persistent green’ based on time-series analysis. The persistent green vegetation product provides an estimate of the vertically-projected green-vegetation fraction where vegetation is deemed to persist over time. These areas are nominally woody vegetation. This separation of the 'persistent green' from the fractional cover product, allows for the adjustment of the underlying spectral signature of the fractional cover image and the creation of a resulting 'true' ground cover estimate for each season. The estimates of cover are restricted to areas of <60% woody vegetation. Currently, this is an experimental product which has not been fully validated. 
Credit
We at TERN acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians throughout Australia, New Zealand and all nations. We honour their profound connections to land, water, biodiversity and culture and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. This dataset was produced by the Joint Remote Sensing Research Program using data sourced from US Geological Survey. 
Purpose
This product captures variability in ground cover at seasonal (ie three-monthly) time scales, forming a consistent time series from 1989 - present. It is useful for investigating inter-annual changes in ground cover and analysing regional comparisons. The green and non-green fractions may include a mix of woody and non-woody vegetation. For applications that focus on all vegetation, the fractional cover product may be more suitable. For applications investigating rapid change during a season, monthly composite or single-date (available on request) fractional cover products may be more appropriate. Note: A new fractional cover algorithm will be implemented during 2021, based on additional field validation and a new machine learning approach. This will lead to a new version of the ground cover products. 
Lineage
Data not provided. 
Method DocumentationData not provided.
Procedure StepsData not provided.
Spatial Description
Data not provided. 
Temporal Coverage
From 1989-12-01 to on going 
Spatial Resolution

Data not provided.

Vertical Extent

Data not provided.

Data Quality Assessment Scope
1) The input imagery was processed to level L1T by the USGS. Geodetic accuracy of the product depends on the image quality and the accuracy, number, and distribution of the ground control points. 2) The fractional cover model was compared to samples drawn from 1500 field reference sites. 
Data Quality Report
Data not provided. 
Data Quality Assessment Outcome
1) The USGS aims to provide image-to-image registration with an accuracy of 12m. Refer to the L8 Data Users Handbook for more detail. 2) The fractional cover model achieved an overall model Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) of 11.6% against field reference sites. 
ANZSRC - FOR
Climate change impacts and adaptation
Environmental management
Data Stream
Satellite Remote Sensing
GCMD Sciences
LAND USE/LAND COVER
SOILS
VEGETATION - VEGETATION COVER
Horizontal Resolution
30 meters - < 100 meters
Instruments
ETM+
OLI
TM
Parameters
bare soil fraction
non-photosynthetic vegetation fraction
photosynthetic vegetation fraction
vegetation area fraction
Platforms
LANDSAT-5
LANDSAT-7
LANDSAT-8
Project
TERN Landscapes
Temporal Resolution
Weekly - < Monthly
Topic
environment
imageryBaseMapsEarthCover
Author
Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation, Queensland Government
Contact Point
Data Enquiries, Earth Observation and Social Sciences (EOSS)
Publisher
Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network
Flood, N., Danaher, T., Gill, T. and Gillingham, S. (2013) An Operational Scheme for Deriving Standardised Surface Reflectance from Landsat TM/ETM+ and SPOT HRG Imagery for Eastern Australia. Remote Sens. 2013, 5(1), 83-109
Flood, N. (2013) Seasonal Composite Landsat TM/ETM+ Images Using the Medoid (a Multi-dimensional Median). Remote Sens. 2013, 5(12), 6481-6500;
Trevithick, R., Scarth, P., Tindall, D., Denham, R. and Flood, N. (2014). Cover under trees: RP64G Synthesis Report. Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts. Brisbane.
Muir, J. et al (2011), Field measurement of fractional ground cover: supporting ground cover monitoring for Australia. ABARES. Canberra
Supplemental Information
band 1 - bare ground fraction (in percent) + 100
band 2 - green ground cover fraction (in percent) +100
band 3 - non-green ground cover fraction (in percent) + 100
band 4 - Error Layer representing the RMSE between the predicted pixel value and the actual pixel value on a nominal scale of 100 (no error) to 200 (very large error).

For the standard form of the file naming convention see the file: seasonal_ground_cover_landsat_filenaming_convention_zIflZm4.txt

 
Resource Specific Usage
Data not provided. 
Environment Description
Data not provided. 
Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network
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Copyright 2010-2021. JRSRP. Rights owned by the Joint Remote Sensing Research Project (JRSRP). 
While every care is taken to ensure the accuracy of this information, the Joint Remote Sensing Research Project (JRSRP) makes no representations or warranties about its accuracy, reliability, completeness or suitability for any particular purpose and disclaims all responsibility and all liability (including without limitation, liability in negligence) for all expenses, losses, damages (including indirect or consequential damage) and costs which might be incurred as a result of the information being inaccurate or incomplete in any way and for any reason.