High-resolution wetland year count for Canada (1984-2016)

The wetland year count data included in this product is national in scope (entire forested ecosystem) and represents a wall to wall wetland characterization for 1984-2016 (Wulder et al. 2018). This product was generated using both annual gap free composite reflectance images and annual forest change maps following the Virtual Land Cover Engine (VLCE) process (see Hermosilla et al. 2018), over the 650 million ha forested ecosystems of Canada. Elements of the VLCE classification approach are inclusion of disturbance information in the processes as well as ensuring class transitions over time are logical. Further, a Hidden Markov Model is implemented to assess individual year class likelihoods to reduce variability and possible noise in year-on-year class assignments (for instances when class likelihoods are similar). The values can range from 0 to 33 denoting the number of years between 1984 and 2016 that a pixel was classified as wetland or wetland-treed in the VLCE data cube.

For an overview on the data, image processing, and time series change detection methods applied, as well as information on independent accuracy assessment of the data, see Hermosilla et al. (2016; http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17538947.2016.1187673 ). A detailed description of the VLCE process and the subsequently generated land cover product, including an accuracy assessment, please see

Hermosilla et al. (2018). The focused wetland analyses can be found described in Wulder et al (2018).

Geographic extent:

Canada's forested ecosystems (~ 650 Mha)

Time period:

1985–2011

Date ( RI_367 ): 2018

Date ( RI_366 ): 2018

RI_415

Government of Canada; Natural Resources Canada; Canadian Forest Service, Pacific Forestry Centre, Forest Geomatics - Dr. M.A.Wulder ( Research Scientist )

506 Burnside Road West , Victoria , British Columbia , V8Z 1M5 , Canada

(250) 363-0600
(250) 363-6004
https://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/employes/vue/mwulder

Hours of service: email only please

Status: onGoing; enContinue RI_596

Maintenance and update frequency: asNeeded; auBesoin RI_540

Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus Thésaurus des sujets de base du gouvernement du Canada ( RI_528 )

Forests

Use limitation: Open Government Licence - Canada (http://open.canada.ca/en/open-government-licence-canada)

Access constraints: otherRestrictions; autresRestrictions RI_609

Use constraints: intellectualPropertyRights; droitsPropriétéIntellectuelle RI_607

Other constraints: The wetland year count data included in this product is national in scope (entire forested ecosystem) and represents a wall to wall wetland characterization for 1984-2016 (Wulder et al. 2018). This product was generated using both annual gap free composite reflectance images and annual forest change maps following the Virtual Land Cover Engine (VLCE) process (see Hermosilla et al. 2018), over the 650 million ha forested ecosystems of Canada. Elements of the VLCE classification approach are inclusion of disturbance information in the processes as well as ensuring class transitions over time are logical. Further, a Hidden Markov Model is implemented to assess individual year class likelihoods to reduce variability and possible noise in year-on-year class assignments (for instances when class likelihoods are similar). The values can range from 0 to 33 denoting the number of years between 1984 and 2016 that a pixel was classified as wetland or wetland-treed in the VLCE data cube.

For an overview on the data, image processing, and time series change detection methods applied, as well as information on independent accuracy assessment of the data, see Hermosilla et al. (2016; http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17538947.2016.1187673 ). A detailed description of the VLCE process and the subsequently generated land cover product, including an accuracy assessment, please see

Hermosilla et al. (2018). The focused wetland analyses can be found described in Wulder et al (2018).

When using this data, please cite as:

Wulder, M.A., Z. Li, E. Campbell, J.C. White, G. Hobart, T. Hermosilla, and N.C. Coops (2018). A National Assessment of Wetland Status and Trends for Canada’s Forested Ecosystems Using 33 Years of Earth Observation Satellite Data. Remote Sensing. [Accepted Oct 10, Pagination and DOI info to be added]

Hermosilla, T., Wulder, M. A., White, J. C., Coops, N. C., Hobart, G. W., (2018) Disturbance-Informed Annual Land Cover Classification Maps of Canada's Forested Ecosystems for a 29-Year Landsat Time Series, Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing, 44, 67-87, https://doi.org/10.1080/07038992.2018.1437719