The USGS, working in partnership with the Federal interagency Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium, is developing the National Land Cover Database (NLCD) 2016. NLCD serves as the definitive moderate resolution land cover database for the U.S., developed from Landsat data at a 30-m pixel resolution. NLCD 2016 will feature new products of labeled land cover and fractional cover products of urban imperviousness, tree canopy, shrub canopy, grass canopy, and bare ground. In addition, previous NLCD labeled land cover releases from 2001, 2006, and 2011 will be re-harmonized with NLCD 2016 to ensure all products are spatially coherent and consistent among all four epochs for accurate capture of land cover change across time. NLCD 2016 will represent the most accurate and detailed NLCD products delivered to date.
For more information on NLCD and to download NLCD data, including shrub and grassland products, visit http://www.mrlc.gov/.
The National Land Cover Database (NLCD) 2016 will be based on Landsat imagery from seven time periods in a complex modeling process that will result in accurate, spatially coherent, and consistent land cover and land cover change products.