The Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium — 20 Years of Development and Integration of USA National Land Cover Data
The Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium demonstrates the national benefits of USA Federal collaboration. Starting in the mid-1990s as a small group with the straightforward goal of compiling a comprehensive national Landsat dataset that could be used to meet agencies’ needs, MRLC...
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doaj-9a26d047c1ed42aea57d094b69ffff3b2020-11-24T23:53:20ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922014-08-01687424744110.3390/rs6087424rs6087424The Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium — 20 Years of Development and Integration of USA National Land Cover DataJames Wickham0Collin Homer1James Vogelmann2Alexa McKerrow3Rick Mueller4Nate Herold5John Coulston6National Exposure Research Laboratory (E243-05), USA Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USAEarth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, USA Geological Survey, 47914 252nd Street, Sioux Falls, SD 57198, USAEarth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, USA Geological Survey, 47914 252nd Street, Sioux Falls, SD 57198, USAUSA Geological Survey, North Carolina State University, 100 Eugene Brooks Ave., 127 David Clark Labs, Raleigh, NC 27695, USANational Agricultural Statistics Service, USA Department of Agriculture, 3251 Old Lee Highway, Ste. 305, Fairfax, VA 22030, USANational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Coastal Services Center, 2234 S. Hobson Ave., Charleston, SC 29405, USAUSDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, 4700 Old Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919, USAThe Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium demonstrates the national benefits of USA Federal collaboration. Starting in the mid-1990s as a small group with the straightforward goal of compiling a comprehensive national Landsat dataset that could be used to meet agencies’ needs, MRLC has grown into a group of 10 USA Federal Agencies that coordinate the production of five different products, including the National Land Cover Database (NLCD), the Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP), the Cropland Data Layer (CDL), the Gap Analysis Program (GAP), and the Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools (LANDFIRE). As a set, the products include almost every aspect of land cover from impervious surface to detailed crop and vegetation types to fire fuel classes. Some products can be used for land cover change assessments because they cover multiple time periods. The MRLC Consortium has become a collaborative forum, where members share research, methodological approaches, and data to produce products using established protocols, and we believe it is a model for the production of integrated land cover products at national to continental scales. We provide a brief overview of each of the main products produced by MRLC and examples of how each product has been used. We follow that with a discussion of the impact of the MRLC program and a brief overview of future plans.http://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/6/8/7424C-CAPchange detectionCropland Data Layer (CDL)GAPLANDFIRENLCD |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
James Wickham Collin Homer James Vogelmann Alexa McKerrow Rick Mueller Nate Herold John Coulston |
spellingShingle |
James Wickham Collin Homer James Vogelmann Alexa McKerrow Rick Mueller Nate Herold John Coulston The Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium — 20 Years of Development and Integration of USA National Land Cover Data Remote Sensing C-CAP change detection Cropland Data Layer (CDL) GAP LANDFIRE NLCD |
author_facet |
James Wickham Collin Homer James Vogelmann Alexa McKerrow Rick Mueller Nate Herold John Coulston |
author_sort |
James Wickham |
title |
The Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium — 20 Years of Development and Integration of USA National Land Cover Data |
title_short |
The Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium — 20 Years of Development and Integration of USA National Land Cover Data |
title_full |
The Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium — 20 Years of Development and Integration of USA National Land Cover Data |
title_fullStr |
The Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium — 20 Years of Development and Integration of USA National Land Cover Data |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium — 20 Years of Development and Integration of USA National Land Cover Data |
title_sort |
multi-resolution land characteristics (mrlc) consortium — 20 years of development and integration of usa national land cover data |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Remote Sensing |
issn |
2072-4292 |
publishDate |
2014-08-01 |
description |
The Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium demonstrates the national benefits of USA Federal collaboration. Starting in the mid-1990s as a small group with the straightforward goal of compiling a comprehensive national Landsat dataset that could be used to meet agencies’ needs, MRLC has grown into a group of 10 USA Federal Agencies that coordinate the production of five different products, including the National Land Cover Database (NLCD), the Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP), the Cropland Data Layer (CDL), the Gap Analysis Program (GAP), and the Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools (LANDFIRE). As a set, the products include almost every aspect of land cover from impervious surface to detailed crop and vegetation types to fire fuel classes. Some products can be used for land cover change assessments because they cover multiple time periods. The MRLC Consortium has become a collaborative forum, where members share research, methodological approaches, and data to produce products using established protocols, and we believe it is a model for the production of integrated land cover products at national to continental scales. We provide a brief overview of each of the main products produced by MRLC and examples of how each product has been used. We follow that with a discussion of the impact of the MRLC program and a brief overview of future plans. |
topic |
C-CAP change detection Cropland Data Layer (CDL) GAP LANDFIRE NLCD |
url |
http://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/6/8/7424 |
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