MEaSUREs Vegetation Continuous Fields (VCF) Yearly Global 0.05 Deg V001

The NASA Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) Vegetation Continuous Fields (VCF) Version 1 data product (VCF5KYR) provides global fractional vegetation cover at 0.05 degree (5,600 meter) spatial resolution at yearly intervals from 1982 to 2016. The VCF5KYR data product is derived from a bagged linear model algorithm using Long Term Data Record Version 4 (LTDR V4) data compiled from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) observations. Fractional vegetation cover (FVC) is the ratio of the area of the vertical projection of green vegetation above ground to the total area, capturing the horizontal distribution and density of vegetation on the Earth's surface. FVC is a primary means for measuring global forest cover change and is a key parameter for a variety of environmental and climate-related applications, including carbon land surface models and biomass measurements. The three bands included in each VCF5KYR Version 1 GeoTIFF are: percent of tree cover, non-tree vegetation, and bare ground. A water mask was applied with all pure water pixels (defined as ≥ 95% water coverage) set to zero.

Data from years 1994 and 2000 were excluded due to lack of data in the LTDR V4.

Known Issues * Known issues, including constraints and limitations, are provided on page 10 of the Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document (ATBD).

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Maintainer Earthdata Forum
Last Updated November 5, 2026, 07:56 (UTC)
Created April 1, 2025, 17:14 (UTC)
Identifier 10.5067/MEaSUREs/VCF/VCF5KYR.001
Modified 2026-11-02T22:15:59Z
Theme {"Earth Science"}
accessLevel public
bureauCode {026:00}
catalog_conformsTo https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
harvest_object_id cecf73a8-27fe-4e7b-8472-39737d114611
harvest_source_id b99e41c6-fe79-4c19-bbc3-9b6c8111bfac
harvest_source_title Science Discovery Engine
license https://www.usa.gov/government-works
programCode {026:000}
publisher LP DAAC;UMD/GLCF
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash 0939697bd7c71de7c2638461c77b0d496cc7ae36cf1e5b119f775e16dff12914
source_schema_version 1.1
spatial ["CARTESIAN", [{"NorthBoundingCoordinate": 90, "WestBoundingCoordinate": -180, "EastBoundingCoordinate": 180, "SouthBoundingCoordinate": -90}]]
temporal 1982-01-01/2016-12-31