Rangeland Condition Monitoring Assessment and Projection (RCMAP) Annual Herbaceous Fractional Component Time-Series Across Western North America from 1985-2023

Publication Date

2024-01-17

Start Date

1985-01-01

End Date

2023-09-27

Rigge, M.B., Bunde, B., Postma, K., and Shi, H., 2024, Rangeland Condition Monitoring Assessment and Projection (RCMAP) Fractional Component Time-Series Across the Western U.S. 1985-2023: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9SJXUI1.

Type: Related Primary Publication Type: Online Link

The goal of RCMAP is to provide a Landsat imagery-based time series of rangeland fractional components across Western North America from 1985 to 2023. These data will provide an inventory of land cover validated products with estimates of precision for the western rangelands. Climate change, shifting fire regimes, and management practices are increasingly impacting the health of the ecosystem. This dataset contributes to improved monitoring of rangeland change at broad temporal and spatial extents. Components are defined as: Bare Ground is a continuous field component including exposed soil, sand, and rocks. Annual Herbaceous is a continuous field component including grasses and forbs whose life history is complete in one growing season. This component is primarily dominated by annual invasive species including Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), Medusahead (Taeniatherum caput-medusae), Red Brome (Bromus rebens), or annual mustards such as Tumble Mustard (Sisymbrium altissimum) and Tansy Mustard (Descurainia pinnata), but it may contain substantial native annual herbaceous vegetation at higher elevations and in California. This component is nested within Herbaceous as a secondary component. Herbaceous is a continuous field component consisting of grasses, forbs and cacti which were photosynthetically active at any point in the year of mapping. Non-sagebrush shrub is a continuous field component encompassing all shrub species not of the sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) genus. Shrubs, in general, are discriminated by the presence of woody stems and < 6-m in height. Perennial herbaceous is a continuous field component consisting of grasses, forbs and cacti which were photosynthetically active at any point in the year of mapping and whose lifecycle includes more than one growing season (includes biennials). Litter is a continuous field component including dead standing woody vegetation, detached plant organic matter and biological soil crusts. Sagebrush is a continuous field component encompassing almost all species of Sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) including Big Sagebrush (A. tridentata spp.), Low Sagebrush (A. arbuscula), Black Sagebrush (A. nova), Three-tip Sagebrush (A. triparta) and Silver Sagebrush (A. cana). This component is nested within Shrub as a secondary component. Excludes the low stature prairie sage (A. frigida) and white sagebrush (A. ludoviciana). Shrub is a continuous field component encompassing all shrub species discriminated by the presence of woody stems and < 6-m in height. Tree cover is defined as vegetation with persistent woody stems > 6m in height. Mature stand of pinyon (Pinus spp. and juniper (Juniperus spp.) are included regardless of height. Shrub height is the average height of all shrub in centimeters. This component only occurs where the shrub cover component is greater than 0% Height is given for the portion of pixel with shrubs present. For example, in a pixel where shrub cover is 10% and the average height of those shrubs is 100cm, height will be given as 100cm, not 100cm/10% cover as 10cm.

• Earth Resources Observation and Science Center (EROS)

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