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A Landsat 7 scene selection strategy for a national land cover database

Limin Yang·Collin G. Homer·K. Hegge·Chengquan Huang·Bruce K. Wylie·Bradley C. Reed
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Abstract

A strategy for selecting Landsat 7 ETM+ imagery for development of a new generation national land cover database of the United States has been developed. This strategy is formulated to target Landsat 7 ETM+ scenes based on land cover and land use, vegetation phenology and image quality (cloudiness, haze). Criteria based on phenology and scene quality provide a national baseline for acquiring Landsat 7 data. Optimal time periods for discriminating land cover types were identified for each Landsat 7 path-row footprint and each proposed land cover mapping zone (mosaic of several path-rows based on landscape and ecoregion), from which three Landsat scenes were selected. This database of selected scenes is used to guide Landsat 7 data purchasing. This methodology provides a consistent framework for populating Landsat 7 imagery to be used for a new national land cover characterization initiative.

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Limin Yang, Collin G. Homer, K. Hegge, Chengquan Huang, Bruce K. Wylie, Bradley C. Reed. 2001. A Landsat 7 scene selection strategy for a national land cover database. https://doi.org/10.1109/igarss.2001.976766

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