Each pixel value corresponds to the best quality maximum NDVI recorded within that pixel over the week specified. Poor quality pixel observations are removed from this product. Observations whose quality is degraded by snow cover, shadow, cloud, aerosols, and/or low sensor zenith angles are removed (and are assigned a value of “missing data”). In addition, negative Max-NDVI values, occurring where R reflectance > NIR reflectance, are considered non-vegetated and assigned a value of 0. This results in a Max-NDVI product that should (mostly) contain vegetation-covered pixels. Max-NDVI values are considered high quality and span a biomass gradient ranging from 0 (no/low biomass) to 1 (high biomass).

GeoAI are buildings, hydrography, forests, and roads automatically extracted using Deep Learning models applied to a source dataset, typically aerial or satellite images. The primary aim of GeoAI is to increase Canada's availability of high-resolution foundational geospatial data for both spatial and temporal coverage. ‌ The infrastructure and expertise put in place by NRCan enables a rapid, efficient, and scalable data creation process through the use of leading-edge technology and Artificial Intelligence models. Published datasets for a given source can be revisited at a later date as more accurate models are developed and put into production. For now, only static files are available, but as the series develops, new products and services will be added.

AAFC’s Canadian Ag-Land Monitoring System (CALMS), operational since 2009, was developed by AAFC’s Earth Observation Service (EOS) to deliver weekly NDVI-based maps of crop condition in near-real-time. The CALMS uses data collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer (MODIS), a sensor mounted onboard NASA’s Terra satellite that has been acquiring data since February 2000. The state-of-the-art radiometric, spectral and spatial resolutions of MODIS Terra make it particularly well-suited for large-scale vegetation mapping and assessment. Crop condition (NDVI) maps are generated weekly by AAFC throughout Canada’s growing season, the period defined as the six-month period stretching from the start of Julian week 12 (end of March) to the end of Julian week 44 (late October). Weeks of the year are defined according to the ISO 8601 week-numbering standard, where weeks start on a Monday and end the following Sunday. CALMS products are generated in the MODIS native Integrated Sinusoidal (ISIN) projection for the region covering the twelve MODIS tiles h09v03 to h14v03 and h09v04 to h14v04.

The Canadian long term satellite data record (LTDR) derived from 1-km resolution Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data was produced by the Canada Center for Remote Sensing (CCRS). Processing included: geolocation, calibration, and compositing using Earth Observation Data Manager (Latifovic et al. 2005), cloud screening (Khlopenkov and Trishchenko, 2006), BRDF correction (Latifovic et. al., 2003), atmosphere and other corrections as described in Cihlar et. al. (2004). For temporal analysis of vegetation cross-sensor correction of Latifovic et al. (2012) is advised. Data collected by the AVHRR instrument on board the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 9,11,14,16,17,18 and 19 satellites were used to generate Canada-wide 1-km 10-day AVHRR composites. Data are available starting in 1985. It is important to note that there are three types of AVHRR sensors: (i) AVHRR-1 flown onboard TIROS-N, NOAA-6, NOAA-8, and NOAA-10; (ii) AVHRR-2 flown onboard NOAA-7, NOAA-9, NOAA-11, NOAA-12, and NOAA-14; and (iii) AVHRR-3 currently operational onboard NOAA-15, NOAA-16, NOAA-17, NOAA-18 and NOAA-19. The AVHRR-1 has four channels, AVHRR-2 has five channels and the AVHRR-3 has six channels, although only five channels of AVHRR-3 can be operational at any one time. As such, channels 3A (1.6 m) and 3B (3.7 m) work interchangeably. The processing procedure was designed to minimize artefacts in AVHRR composite images. There are thirty six 10-day image composites per year. The following three processing levels are provided: P1) top of atmosphere reflectance and brightness temperature, P2) reflectance at surface and surface temperature and P3) reflectance at surface normalized to a common viewing geometry (BRDF normalization). The processing level P1 and P2 are provided for all 36 composites while level P3 is provided for 21 composites from April – October.

Each pixel value corresponds to the difference (anomaly) between the mean “Best-Quality” Max-NDVI of the week specified (e.g. Week 18, 2000-2014) and the “Best-Quality” Max-NDVI of the same week in a specific year (e.g. Week 18, 2015). Max-NDVI anomalies < 0 indicate where weekly Max-NDVI is lower than normal. Anomalies > 0 indicate where weekly Max-NDVI is higher than normal. Anomalies close to 0 indicate where weekly Max-NDVI is similar to normal.

The MODIS surface albedo dataset was produced by the Canada Center for Remote Sensing (CCRS), Natural Resources Canada. The dataset represents the solar shortwave broadband surface albedo and it is at a 10-day interval covering the entire Canadian landmass as well as northern USA, Alaska, and the Greenland. The dataset was derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard the TERRA satellite which provides a global coverage every 1-2 days in 36 spectral bands ranging from visible to infrared and to thermal wavelengths between 405 and 14,385 nm, and was available since 2000. For the estimation of surface albedo, the first seven spectral bands of B1 to B7 ranging from 459 nm to 2155 nm were used. B1 and B2 have a 250 meter resolution and B3 to B7 have a 500 meter resolution. A downscaling method using a regression and normalization scheme was employed to downscale the bands B3 to B7 to 250 meter resolution while preserving radiometric properties of the original data. To obtain clear-sky observations from MODIS, composite images for a 10 day period were generated by using a series of advanced algorithms (Luo et al., 2008). The 10-day composites of B1-B7 reflectance were then used to retrieve spatially continuous spectral albedo by using a combined land/snow BRDF (Bi-directional Reflectance Distribution Function) model. In that method, the modified RossThick-LiSparse BRDF model (Maignan et al., 2004) for land and Kokhanovsky and Zege’s model (2004) for snow are linearly combined for mixed surface conditions. They are weighted by snow fraction (0.0 ~ 1.0). The seven spectral albedo were then converted into the shortwave broadband surface albedo using the empirical MODIS polynomial conversion equation of Liang et al. (1999). The data product is in LCC (Lambert Conformal Conic) projection with a 250m pixel resolution. There are 36 albedo images per year. A dataset representing the pixel state (e.g. cloud/shadow, snow/ice, water, land, et al.) was also generated for each 10-day corresponding to the surface albedo product. References: Kokhanovsky, A. A. and Zege, E. P., 2004, Scattering Optics of Snow, Applied Optics, 43, 1589-1602, doi:10.1364/AO.43.001589, 20. Liang, S., Strahler, A.H., Walthall, C., 1999. Retrieval of land surface albedo from satellite observations: a simulation study. J. Appl. Meteorol. 38, 712–725. Luo, Y., Trishchenko, A.P., Khlopenkov, K.V., 2008. Developing clear-sky, cloud and cloud shadow mask for producing clear-sky composites at 250-meter spatial resolution for the seven MODIS land bands over Canada and North America. Remote Sens. Environ. 112, 4167–4185. Maignan, F., F.M. Bréon and R. Lacaze, 2004, Bidirectional reflectance of Earth targets : evaluation of analytical models using a large set of spaceborne measurements with emphasis with the hot spot, Remote Sens. Environ., 90, 210-220.

Portions of Universal Transverse Mercator Zones 7 - 12 which cover British Columbia, Northern Hemisphere only, formed into polygons, in BC Albers projection

Each pixel value corresponds to the mean historical “Best-quality” Max-NDVI value for a given week, as calculated from the previous 20 years in the MODIS historical record (i.e. does not include data from the current year). These data are also often referred to as “weekly baselines” or “weekly normals”.

Land cover classification image for the Aspen Parkland ecoregion of Saskatchewan with a spatial resolution of 10m. The goal of this land cover classification was to distinguish native from tame grasslands. The classification was based on Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 imagery using machine learning analysis in the Google Earth Engine platform. The classification was conducted on imagery acquired in 2022, and the classification model was built with field data collected in 2020 - 2022. There are eight classes in total: native grassland, tame grassland, mixed/altered grassland, cropland, shrubs, trees, water, and urban area. Download: here The Prairie Landscape Inventory (PLI) aims to develop improved methods of assessing land cover and land use for conservation. Native grassland has historically been one of the hardest to map at-risk ecosystems because of the challenges in distinguishing native grassland from tame grassland land cover using remotely sensed imagery. This classification distinguishes native grassland from tame grassland and will provide valuable information for habitat suitability for native grassland species, identifying high biodiversity potential and invasion risk potential. The classification map has eight (8) classes:  1. Cropland This class represents all cultivated areas with crop commodities, including corn, pulse, soybeans, canola, grains, and summer-fallow. 2. Native grassland This class represents the native grassland areas that are composed of at least 75% native grass, sedge and forb species, such as the needle grasses and wheatgrasses along with June grass and blue grama grass. Unbroken grassland that is invaded by species like Kentucky bluegrass, crested wheatgrass or smooth brome, such that native cover is less than 75%, is not considered native for the purpose of this project.  3. Mixed/altered grassland This class represents a grassland with a mix of less than 75% native grass, sedge and forb species or less than 75% tame species. These are grassland areas that do not fit into either of the native or tame grassland definitions.  4. Tame grassland This class represents the tame grassland areas that are composed of at least 75% seeded or planted species with introduced grasses and forb species such as crested wheatgrass, smooth brome, Kentucky bluegrass, alfalfa, and sweet clover. 5. Water This class represents permanent water locations such as lakes and rivers. 6. Shrubs This class represents the sites dominated by woody vegetation of relatively low height (generally +/-2 meters) with shrub canopy typically >20% of total vegetation cover. 7. Trees This class represents the coniferous/deciduous trees, mixed-wood area, and other trees >2 meters height with tree canopy typically >20% of total vegetation cover. 9. Urban area This class represents both urban municipalities and buffered roads. Urban municipalities was used to mask the urban/developed area class of the Annual Crop Inventory 2021 (Agriculture Agri-Food Canada).   Colour Classes: Value Label Red Green Blue 1 Cropland 255 255 190 2 Native grassland 168 168 0 3 Mixed/altered grassland 199 215 158 4 Tame grassland 245 202 122 5 Water 190 232 255 6 Shrubs 205 102 153 7 Trees 66 128 53 9 Urban area 128 128 128 Accuracy metrics This model has an overall accuracy of 73 per cent. The table below summarizes the user’s accuracy, producer’s accuracy, and F1-score of the model on the validation dataset. Class User’s accuracy (%) Producer’s accuracy (%) F1-score Cropland 91.2 94.5 0.93 Native grassland 74.8 73.1 0.74 Mixed grassland 44.7 44.1 0.44 Tame grassland 67.9 72.8 0.70 Water 94.8 91.3 0.93 Shrubs 61.2 51.1 0.56 Trees 89.7 94.6 0.92

Our Imagery Base Maps and Mosaics of a number of Raster Datasets.  This includes the ASTER DEM, CDED and Shaded Relief Datasets.  As well as a number of mosaics, including SPOT, RapidEye, Landsat, and MVI Landcover data.