GlobCover land Cover Maps (GlobCover)

GlobCover is an European Space Agency initiative which aimed  to develop a service capable of delivering global composites and land cover maps using as input observations from the 300m MERIS sensor on board the ENVISAT satellite mission.  The Globcover global Land Cover map covers the period December 2004 - June 2006 and was derived by an automatic and regionally-tuned classification of a MERIS full resolution surface reflectance time series.  The Land Cover map contains the following 22 numerical classes corresponding to specific land cover types:

(11) Post-flooding or irrigated croplands (or aquatic); (14) Rainfed croplands; (20) Mosaic cropland (50-70%) / vegetation (grassland/shrubland/forest) (20-50%); (30) Mosaic vegetation (grassland/ shrubland/ forest) (50-70%) / cropland (20-50%); (40) Closed to open (>15%) broadleaved evergreen or semi-deciduous forest (>5m); (50) Closed (>40%) broadleaved deciduous forest (>5m); (60) Open (15-40%) broadleaved deciduous forest/woodland (>5m); (70) Closed (>40%) needleleaved evergreen forest (>5m); (90) Open (15-40%) needleleaved deciduous or evergreen forest (>5m); (100) Closed to open (>15%) mixed broadleaved and needleleaved forest (>5m); (110) Mosaic forest or shrubland (50-70%) / grassland (20-50%); (120) Mosaic grassland (50-70%) / forest or shrubland (20-50%); (130) Closed to open (>15%) (broadleaved or needleleaved, evergreen or deciduous) shrubland (<5m); (140) Closed to open (>15%) herbaceous vegetation (grassland, savannas or lichens/mosses); (150) Sparse (<15%) vegetation; (160) Closed to open (>15%) broadleaved forest regularly flooded (semi-permanently or temporarily) - Fresh or brackish water; (170) Closed (>40%) broadleaved forest or shrubland permanently flooded - Saline or brackish water; (180) Closed to open (>15%) grassland or woody vegetation on regularly flooded or waterlogged soil - Fresh, brackish or saline water; (190) Artificial surfaces and associated areas (Urban areas >50%); (200) Bare areas; (210) Water bodies; (220) Permanent snow and ice.

As the legend indicates, the individual Globcover land cover classes may encompass quite different vegetation physiognomies. To facilitate international correlation they have been linked to  the corresponding entries of the FAO Land Cover Classification System (LCCS).  The Globcover dataset is available from the relevant ESA website in GeoTIFF Format in the World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS 84) coordinate system at 10 arc-seconds (~300 m) spatial resolution.