Certainties and uncertainties of land cover statistics in China

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Zhao, Jing-zhu | Sun, Yi | Bai, Guang-xin | Wu, Gang | Shao, Guo-fan

Affiliations: Research Center for Eco-Environmentai Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China | Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, 1159 Forestry Building, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA

Abstract: Vegetation or land cover maps have been made directly or indirectly available for the entire territory of China. The certainties and uncertainties of land cover statistics were analyzed by comparing three data sources: China's Vegetation Map, IGPB DISCover, and University of Maryland Product. Great similarities in the statistics of 7 aggregated land cover types were found among the three data sources, particularly between the two global land cover maps. The per-pixel agreement between any 2 of 3 maps was between 38.0%–51.4%; the per-pixel agreement among all three maps was only 27.1%. Certainties were found in regions where vegetation types are typical and human land use practice is relatively homogenous; the uncertainties occurred to either vegetation transition zones or regions where land cover types and land use practice are relatively diversified. Systematic and multidisciplinary efforts are necessary to promote accurate mapping of nationwide land cover types in China. Intensive efforts should be made in regions where uncertainties of land cover information are found.

Keywords: uncertainties of land cover, remote sensing, spatial pattern, landscape characterization

Journal: Journal of Environmental Sciences, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 520-524, 2003