High-resolution binary wetland map for Canada (2001-2016)

High-resolution binary wetland map for Canada (2001-2016). Wetland map for the forested ecosystems of Canada focused on current conditions.

The binary wetland data included in this product is national in scope (entirety of forested ecosystem) and represents the wall to wall characterization for 2001-2016 (see 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). For this product, to be considered as currently a wetland a pixel must have been classified as wetland at least 80% or 13 of the 16 years between 2001 and 2016, inclusively.

For an overview on the data, image processing, and time series change detection methods applied, see Wulder et al. (2018).

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.

For a detailed description of the VLCE process and the subsequently generated land cover product, including an accuracy assessment, please see Hermosilla et al. (2018).

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 data represents wetlands coverage of Canada's forested ecosystems for 2001-2016. To avoid confusion in areas with dynamic agricultural land use, an agricultural mask was used in the change detection process. Therefore, wetlands in and near agricultural areas may not be captured due to use of this exclusionary mask. An image compositing window of August 1 ± 30 days was used to generate the best-available-pixel (BAP) image composites used as the source data for change detection and attribution. As a result, changes (and hence land class transitions) occurring after August 31 may not always be mapped to the correct year; however a national independent accuracy assessment indicated that 97.7% of changes were labelled to within ± 1 year (Hermosilla et al. 2016; http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17538947.2016.118767 )

The science and methods developed to generate the information outcomes shown here, that track and characterize the history of Canada’s forests, were led by Canadian Forest Service of Natural Resources Canada, partnered with the University of British Columbia, with support from the Canadian Space Agency, augmented by processing capacity from WestGrid of Compute Canada.

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.

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