Project Funding: 2014 - 2016

NRA: 2013 NASA: Terra and Aqua: Algorithms--Existing Data Products   

Funded by NASA

Abstract:
This proposal responds to ROSES13 A.46 (Terra and Aqua - Algorithms - Existing Data Products) and describes final maintenance and refinement activities in support of the MODIS global land cover product (MCD12). This product consists of two suites of scientific data sets: MCD12Q1 (global land cover type) and MCD12Q2 (global land cover dynamics). Collection 5 of the MCD12Q1 product provides five land cover classifications, and the MCD12Q2 product provides seven data layers that characterize the land surface phenology of global ecosystems. Both products are produced annually at 500-m spatial resolution. For Collection 6, we are adding a new land cover layer to the MCD12Q1 product that is compliant with the FAO Land Cover Classification System, and have significantly revised the MCD12Q2 algorithm to improve its accuracy and reduce the frequency of missing data. Unfortunately, testing and development of Collection 6 MCD12 products has been impeded by delays in processing upstream inputs to the MCD12 algorithms. Specifically, the primary input to both MCD12 algorithms is the Level 3 MODIS Nadir BRDF-Adjusted surface reflectance (NBAR) product. Collection 6 reprocessing for MODIS land products is currently scheduled to begin in late July 2013 and will require 6-9 months to complete for level 1-3 land products. As a result, 1-3 years of NBAR data (which are required to run and test the MCD12 Collection 6 algorithms) will not be available until late September 2013, and a full time series required for MCD12 (2000-present) is not likely to be available until December 2013, at the earliest. We currently anticipate that testing and tuning of the Collection 6 algorithms for MCD12 will be performed in the Fall of 2013, but operational production of collection 6 MCD12 products will not occur until 2014. The activities described in this proposal are designed to support two main goals. First, we propose to provide short-term maintenance and refinement of the Collection 6 MCD12 product suite through 2014. However, the MCD12 product suite is unique among the land products because it is generated at the Boston University scientific compute facility. Hence, the second goal of this proposal is to port all source code and datasets used to generate the MCD12 products to NASA's MODIS Adaptive Processing System (MODAPS), thereby allowing long-term maintenance of MCD12 products by NASA. The primary challenge to achieving these goals is adequate testing, maintenance, and refinement of Collection 6 MCD12 products, which we have not been able to accomplish because of delays in Collection 6 reprocessing. To ensure both the quality of the products and a smooth transition to operational production at NASA, we propose a 2- year effort during which we will maintain Collection 6 of the MCD12 product and work closely with staff at NASA GSFC to move operational production of our algorithms from Boston University to NASA.