Northern Forest Limit (1995-2021)

This dataset provides a Canada-wide map of vegetation height and the delineation of the northern forest limit. It is developed within the framework of Canada’s National Terrestrial Ecosystem Monitoring System (NTEMS). Vegetation height estimates were derived from ICESat-2 LiDAR observations, integrated with Landsat time series and topographic variables to model spatial patterns. The northern forest limit represents the transition between boreal forest and tundra, an ecologically significant zone for monitoring climate change impacts and biodiversity. Vegetation height was modeled for six time-periods including 1985-1995, 1990-2000, 1995-2005, 2000-2010, 2005-2015 and 2010-2021. Predictions for each time period represent the median conditions for that period. Predictions of height and the probability of canopy presence were generated using Random Forests models trained on spaceborne-lidar data collected by ICESat-2 from 2019-2021 and overlapping Landsat satellite imagery from 2010-2021. These Random Forests models were then applied to the entire archive of Landsat imagery, representing a period of ~35 years. This dataset provides spatially explicit prediction of vegetation height (m) along the Canadian northern forest limit at 30 m spatial resolution. Pixels with a low (< 50 %) probability of containing a vegetation canopy have been assigned a height of 0 m. The science and methods for this dataset were the result of a collaboration between the Canadian Forest Service of Natural Resources Canada, partnered with the Integrated Remote Sensing Studio (IRSS) in the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia. When using this data, please cite: Travers-Smith, H., Coops, N. C., Mulverhill, C., Wulder, M. A., Ignace, D., Lantz, T. C. (2024). Mapping vegetation height and identifying the northern forest limit across Canada using ICESat-2, Landsat time series and topographic data. Remote Sensing of Environment, 305, 114097. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2024.114097 (Travers-Smith et al. 2024). Additional details outlining application of the model to the time-series of Landsat data can be found here: Travers-Smith, H., Coops, N., Mulverhill, C., Wulder, M. A., Lantz, T. C., Ignace, D. (2025). Satellite observations reveal stable forest limits and shrub expansion across the Canadian forest-tundra ecotone. Environmental Research Letters, 20(10). https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/adfc7f (Travers-Smith et al. 2025).

Date ( RI_367 ): 2023

Date ( RI_366 ): 2023

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 , V8R 2E4 , 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

Keywords

National Terrestrial Ecosystem Monitoring System (NTEMS)

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

Spatial representation type: grid; grille RI_636

Metadata language: eng

Topic category

Geoscientific information

Begin date: 1985

End date: 2022

Reference system identifier: http://www.epsg-registry.org / EPSG:3978 / 1.0

Distribution format

GeoTIF ( 1.0 )

RI_409

Government of Canada; Natural Resources Canada; Canadian Forest Service, Pacific Forestry Centre, Forest Geomatics - Brian Low ( Manager, National Forest Information System )

506 Burnside Road West , Victoria , British Columbia , V8R 2E4 , Canada

(250) 363-0600
(250) 363-6004
https://ca.nfis.org/index_eng.html

Hours of service: email only please

OnLine resource: Satellite Forest Information for Canada (English) ( HTTPS )
Application;HTML;eng

OnLine resource: CA_northern_forest_limit.zip ( HTTPS )
Dataset;ZIP;eng

OnLine resource: Satellite Forest Information for Canada (French) ( HTTPS )
Application;HTML;fra

OnLine resource: Satellite observations reveal stable forest limits and shrub expansion across the Canadian forest-tundra ecotone ( HTTP )
Supporting Document;HTML;eng

OnLine resource: CA_northern_forest_structure_1995 ( OGC:WMS )
Web Service;WMS;fra

OnLine resource: CA_northern_forest_structure_1995.zip ( HTTPS )
Dataset;ZIP;zxx

OnLine resource: CA_northern_forest_structure_2000.zip ( HTTPS )
Dataset;ZIP;zxx

OnLine resource: CA_northern_forest_structure_2005.zip ( HTTPS )
Dataset;ZIP;zxx

OnLine resource: CA_northern_forest_structure_2010.zip ( HTTPS )
Dataset;ZIP;zxx

OnLine resource: CA_northern_forest_structure_2015.zip ( HTTPS )
Dataset;ZIP;zxx

OnLine resource: CA_northern_forest_structure_2021.zip ( HTTPS )
Dataset;ZIP;zxx

OnLine resource: CA_northern_forest_structure_1995 ( OGC:WMS )
Web Service;WMS;eng

OnLine resource: Mapping vegetation height and identifying the northern forest limit across Canada using ICESat-2, Landsat time series and topographic data ( HTTPS )
Supporting Document;PDF;eng

File identifier: 1819a8f8-9d11-4a37-bb4b-85227befc3e1 XML

Metadata language: eng; CAN

Character set: utf8; utf8 RI_458

Hierarchy level: dataset; jeuDonnées RI_622

Date stamp: 2026-02-17T16:22:38

Metadata standard name: North American Profile of ISO 19115:2003 - Geographic information - Metadata

Metadata standard version: CAN/CGSB-171.100-2009

RI_415

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

506 West Burnside Road , Victoria , British Columbia , V8R 2E4 , Canada

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

Hours of service: email only please

Overviews

CA_northern_forest_structure.png

Spatial extent

Provided by

Associated resources

Not available

Simple

Overviews

Spatial extent

Keywords

Provided by

Associated resources