Journal of Environmental Management 148 (2015) 4e9

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NASA Land Cover and Land Use Change (LCLUC): An interdisciplinary research program Chris Justice a, *, Garik Gutman b, Krishna Prasad Vadrevu a a b

Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland College Park, USA NASA Headquarters, Washington DC, USA

a b s t r a c t Understanding Land Cover/Land Use Change (LCLUC) in diverse regions of the world and at varied spatial scales is one of the important challenges in global change research. In this article, we provide a brief overview of the NASA LCLUC program, its focus areas, and the importance of satellite remote sensing observations in LCLUC research including future directions. The LCLUC Program was designed to be a cross-cutting theme within NASA's Earth Science program. The program aims to develop and use remote sensing technologies to improve understanding of human interactions with the environment. Since 1997, the NASA LCLUC program has supported nearly 280 research projects on diverse topics such as forest loss and carbon, urban expansion, land abandonment, wetland loss, agricultural land use change and land use change in mountain systems. The NASA LCLUC program emphasizes studies where land-use changes are rapid or where there are significant regional or global LCLUC implications. Over a period of years, the LCLUC program has contributed to large regional science programs such as Land Biosphere-Atmosphere (LBA), the Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI), and the Monsoon Area Integrated Regional Study (MAIRS). The primary emphasis of the program will remain on using remote sensing datasets for LCLUC research. The program will continue to emphasize integration of physical and social sciences to address regional to global scale issues of LCLUC for the benefit of society. © 2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1. Introduction The Land-Cover/Land-Use change program is an interdisciplinary scientific theme within NASA's Earth Science program. The LCLUC program is distinct from other NASA discipline programs as it directly addresses the societal aspects of land processes, which necessitates the involvement of social and environmental scientists. Thus, the integration of physical and social sciences and the use of satellite observations in an interdisciplinary framework have been the unique thrust of the LCLUC program. The ultimate vision of this program is to develop the capability for periodic global inventories of land use and land cover from space, to develop the scientific understanding and models necessary to simulate the processes taking place, and to evaluate the consequences of observed and predicted changes at local to global scales. The program includes modeling current land-use and land-cover change, developing projections of future changes and their direct and indirect impacts, and evaluating the societal consequences of the observed and predicted

* Corresponding author. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2014.12.004 0301-4797/© 2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

changes. The NASA LCLUC Program, has its roots in the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP)/International Human Dimensions Program (IHDP) Land-Use and -Cover Change (LUCC) program, and the related global data initiatives developed by the IGBP Data and Information System (IGBP-DIS) (Lambin et al., 1995; Turner et al., 1995). The key science questions addressed by the LCLUC program are as follows: (1) Where are land cover and land use changing, what is the extent of the change, and over what time scale? (2) What are the causes and consequences of LCLUC? (3) What are the projected changes of LCLUC and their potential impacts? (4) What are the impacts of climate variability and change and socioeconomic, institutional and policy changes on LCLUC and the associated feedbacks? In the initial years of the program, the role of land-use change in the global carbon cycle was an emerging topic (Dixon et al., 1994; Janetos and Justice, 2000; Watson et al., 2000) and, as a result, several of the funded research projects addressed aspects of carbon and forestry. Carbon cycle science has remained a strong part of the NASA's Earth Science Enterprise and during the last decade the Carbon Cycle program at NASA HQ has provided opportunities for LCLUC-related projects to be funded through that program. This

NASA Land Cover and Land Use Change (LCLUC): An interdisciplinary research program / Journal of Environmental Management 148 (2015) 4e9

provided some relief in flat-lined LCLUC funding so the program has been able to expand to address aspects of the water cycle, landeatmosphere interactions, urban environments, agricultural land use change and climate impacts on land use, as well as vulnerability and adaptation of land use to environmental changes. Gutman et al. (2004) presents the history of the LCLUC program, which is now in Phase 3 and includes an emphasis on synthesis research based on the growing body of international land use research and previous LCLUC studies. 2. The role of satellite observations The LCLUC program aims at developing and using NASA remotesensing technologies, as well as other U.S. and non-U.S. satellite data sources, to improve our understanding of human interactions with the environment, and provide a scientific foundation for understanding the sustainability, vulnerability and resilience of human land use and managed terrestrial ecosystems. Starting with the AVHRR and Landsat Pathfinder programs in the early 1990s, NASA has developed procedures for generating regional to global datasets on land cover and change (Justice and Townshend, 1994; Justice et al., 1995). These activities are continuing through the LCLUC Program and other NASA data-oriented initiatives such as Advancing Collaborative Connections for Earth System Science (ACCESS) and Making Earth Science Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) and the NASA MODIS, S-NPP and the USGS Landsat 8 Science Teams. 2.1. Moderate-resolution observations The workhorse of the LCLUC program has been the U.S. Landsat moderate spatial resolution sensor. Other non-U.S. Landsat-like sensors have also been launched into space during the last two decades, but limited accessibility to data from these sensors remains an obstacle for broad use of these data for LCLUC science. Thus, Landsat has been the sensor of choice, providing the necessary science-quality observations at spatial resolutions well-suited to mapping land cover and monitoring change (Goward et al., 2009, 2011; Warner et al., 2009). Most of the early applications of Landsat data for land-cover mapping were undertaken on local areas, within an individual Landsat scene (185 km
185 km). Whereas the focus of LCLUC science during the recent years has been on regional to continental scale studies, requiring multiple Landsat scenes. The earliest example of extensive regional mapping of forest-cover change using Landsat was provided by the NASA Landsat Pathfinder Program for the Amazon Basin (Skole and Tucker, 1993). At that time, Landsat data were purchased on a per-scene basis, and an investment of several million dollars was needed by NASA to purchase multi-temporal regional Landsat datasets. This “proof of concept” set the stage for wall-to-wall regional change analysis at 30 m, demonstrating the means by which to quantify local changes at the regional scale, which is an essential component of the LCLUC program. For the tropics, the biomes of greatest interest in terms of deforestation and the carbon budget, the low frequency of Landsat cloud-free acquisitions resulted in the need for combining data from successive years to obtain a cloud-free mosaic of the land surface. This “epoch” approach to land-cover mapping has been a central theme of regional Landsat mapping through the last decade. Following this approach, in 2005 the LCLUC program initiated and provided expertise to help design, assemble, and distribute to the scientific community the Global Land Survey (GLS) datasets (Gutman et al., 2008, 2013). Through this initiative, Landsat data were assembled and processed to generate cloud-free, orthorectified global datasets for epochs centered around 1990, 2000, 2005,

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and 2010. These datasets contributed to the development of a number of new regionally-derived products quantifying land cover and land-cover change. The GLS approach aimed at providing users with one clear image during leaf-on conditions for every location of the global land area. More details on the design and processing of GLS datasets can be found in Gutman et al. (2008). Over the years, the LCLUC program has supported a number of regional land-cover mapping initiatives in support of science studies of the Amazon (Skole et al., 2004), Central Africa and Russia (Hansen et al., 2008; Potapov et al., 2009), the United States (Huang et al., 2009a; Loveland et al., 1991), European Russia (Ozdogan et al., 2006; Potapov et al., 2009), the Americas (Huang et al., 2009b), S.E. Asia (Samek et al., 2004), the Black Sea Region (Olfesson et al., 2009), and Monsoon Asia (Xiao et al., 2009). More recently, the program has expanded to include regional thematic mapping of specific land-cover types, for example, mangroves (Giri et al., 2007; Simard et al., 2006), agriculture (Ozdogan et al., 2006; Hansen et al., 2010) and urban areas (Schneider et al., 2003; Seto and Kaufmann, 2003). The opening up of the Landsat archive by the United States Geological Service (USGS) for free access has transformed Landsat analyses and fueled the development of a new generation of products. In areas of frequent cloud cover, such as in the tropics, all Landsat scenes available within a year for a given location are being analyzed to generate regional cloud-free mapping of forest-cover change (Broich et al., 2011; Hansen et al., 2009; Lindquist et al., 2008). Dense stacks of time series from the 40-year Landsat record are also being used to understand the land-cover changes (Huang et al., 2009a,b, 2010). The NASA MEASURES Web Enabled Landsat Data (WELD) Project provided 30 m mosaics of composited Landsat data at weekly, monthly, and annual periods initially for the United States and Alaska (Roy et al., 2010) and more recently for the globe (Roy et al., 2014). The approach developed by the NASA MODIS Land Team, whereby atmospherically corrected surface reflectance data provided the basis for a number of higher order products (Justice et al., 2002), has now been applied to Landsat data by the Landsat Ecosystem Disturbance Adaptive Processing System (LEDAPS) (Vermote et al., 1997; Masek et al., 2012) and the WELD Project (Hansen et al., 2011). Derived products from global Landsat data are now starting to be developed, such as global forest cover change (Hansen et al., 2013), realizing the potential of the Landsat program. With free access to Landsat data and the various processing methods recently developed and the availability of highperformance computing, the development of a complete 40-year record of global land-cover change at 30 m resolution within the next several years is within reach (Roy et al., 2014). 2.2. Coarse-resolution observations Starting with the NOAA AVHRR, land-cover mapping was developed using time-series data (Townshend et al., 1991; Tucker et al., 1985). More recently, the suite of land products generated from MODIS established a milestone in land remote sensing (Justice and Tucker, 2009). These products and the associated quality assessment and validation provide a more than 13-year record of science-quality data with which to monitor land-surface changes (Ramachandran et al., 2011). Through systematic quality assessment and validation by the MODIS Science Team, the MODIS land products have been incrementally improved (Masuoka et al., 2011; Morisette et al., 2002; Roy et al., 2002). The products have been completely reprocessed five times. The land cover product suite includes land cover (Friedl et al., 2010), vegetation continuous fields (Carroll et al., 2011), and fire and burned area (Justice et al., 2011) products, which have been used by LCLUC research projects, and their value increases as the time series is extended.

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NASA Land Cover and Land Use Change (LCLUC): An interdisciplinary research program / Journal of Environmental Management 148 (2015) 4e9

2.3. Need for satellite observations continuity Our ability to quantify land-cover change using satellite observation requires data continuity. NASA is participating in missions that will continue the systematic observations from Landsat and MODIS. The Landsat 8 Mission, jointly developed by NASA and USGS, was launched in February 2013 (Irons and Masek, 2006). The OLI instrument, a solid-state linear array, provides an enhanced spectral capability continuing the ‘dynamic data continuity’ of the Landsat series. A separate two-band thermal instrument (TIRS) is collocated on the platform (Reuter et al., 2010), although only one band is currently operating. The future of the U.S. Landsat Program beyond Landsat 8 has been under discussion for some time (Goward et al., 2011) but there is a strong requirement from the LCLUC science and applications community that Landsat become a truly operational system (Roy et al., 2014). In this context, the LCLUC program is a strong advocate for Landsat observations and has a role in NASA's contribution to sustained land imaging. The Suomi-NPP VIIRS instrument was designed to continue the coarse-resolution MODIS observational record (Justice et al., 2011). As the bridge to the operational Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) series of instruments, the VIIRS instrument is providing daily global coverage with an early afternoon overpass. For the land community, the band selection and spatial resolution are similar to that of MODIS with improvements in global coverage, low light imaging and fire detection (Csiszar et al., 2013a). NOAA is currently generating operational data products using the Interface Data Processing System (IDPS), which are in various stages (provisional to stage 1 validated) of development (Justice et al., 2013). NASA is currently supporting the development of a suite of improved and additional science-quality products from VIIRS to meet the needs of the science community. 2.4. International satellite observations The failure of the Landsat 7 Scan-Line Corrector in 2003 highlighted the fragility of the U.S. observing systems needed for monitoring land cover. Owing to the possibility of a significant Landsat data gap, the LCLUC program considered the potential role of various international space-borne assets with Landsat-like capabilities (Goward et al., 2009). Countries with such assets include France, China, Brazil, India, Japan, and the U.K., however, each instrument has slightly different characteristics and the associated agencies and companies have different data policies. Even so, all of these systems are used in various ways around the world for land-cover mapping. It is worth noting that the increased temporal frequency of five days at 56 m resolution by the Indian Resource Satellite AWiFS, provided new capabilities for agricultural landuse monitoring and the advantage of increased frequency of acquisition points to the advantage of a constellation approach for moderate-resolution sensing systems (Goward et al., 2011). With the increasing demand for timely access to global cloud-free satellite data and the evolving observation requirements, international coordination of satellite land observations needs to be given more attention (Gutman et al., 2008; Townshend et al., 2011). However, removal of restrictive or inequitable data accessibility and pricing policies will be an important prerequisite for developing international moderate-resolution data partnerships. In this regard, the LCLUC Program is currently supporting an investigation of a merged processing stream for Landsat 8 and the planned European Sentinel 2 data, which will greatly increase the frequency of coverage and the opportunity for cloud free observations. To achieve this important demonstration of data inter-use, an international partnership is being developed by NASA, ESA and USGS. The European Sentinels are classed as ‘operational’ and have a free and

Fig. 1. Since its program inception, NASA LCLUC program has funded ~280 research projects on a variety of themes. Percent wise contribution of different projects is shown in the figure. More details can be found at http://lcluc.hq.nasa.gov.

open data policy. However for some persistently cloudy regions, microwave data from the international assets will need to be acquired (Whitcraft et al., 2014) 3. LCLUC research projects Since its inception during 1997, the LCLUC Program has funded nearly two hundred and eighty projects, with each year sponsoring nearly forty research projects in a variety of research areas (Fig. 1). Over a period of years, more than two hundred and thirty researchers have been associated with the program. LCLUC project focus areas include urban and suburban expansion, land abandonment, wetland loss, agricultural land use change and land use in mountain systems. Information on all of the projects can be found at http://lcluc.hq.nasa.gov. 4. International context of the NASA LCLUC program To meet the requirements of global change research, the global monitoring systems will need to be international, conforming to internationally accepted standards of data quality, product accuracy, and data continuity (Townshend et al., 2011). The LCLUC program is a major supporter of the Global Observation of Forests and Land Cover Dynamics (GOFC-GOLD) program, which is a component of the Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS) and is amined at establishing operational monitoring systems through international cooperation (Townshend et al., 2004). GOFC-GOLD focuses on forest and land cover and fire and has a number of coordinating initiatives underway, including the development of a sourcebook for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDDþ) and in developing countries it has created regional networks of scientists undertaking research on land cover, land use, and fire. LCLUC supports the GOFC-GOLD regional capacity-building activities and contributes to developing regional information scientific networks. The LCLUC program also supports the Project Office for the Fire Implementation Team of

NASA Land Cover and Land Use Change (LCLUC): An interdisciplinary research program / Journal of Environmental Management 148 (2015) 4e9

GOFC-GOLD (Csiszar et al., 2013a,b; Vadrevu et al., 2013). Through GOFC-GOLD, LCLUC contributes to a number of land cover-related tasks of the Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS), including the global 30 m land-cover initiative, the Land Surface Imaging (LSI) constellation, and the agricultural land-use change component of the GEOSS Agricultural Monitoring Task (BeckerReshef et al., 2010). GEOSS currently provides an important international coordinating mechanism with focus on earth observations for societal benefit. The IGBP-IHDP Global Land Project (GLP) which followed on from the international LUCC program has fostered scientific land use research at the international level, Communication with the GLP is usually done through the informal channels of scientific exchanges and participation in research. The GLP is now participating in the development of the new international global change research initiative entitled Future Earth (http://www.icsu.org/ future-earth). With a primary emphasis on satellite observations, the LCLUC program recognizes the importance of establishing the global earth-observing systems needed for long-term monitoring of LCLUC. Through its research program, LCLUC is developing, prototyping, and demonstrating the methods required for such a system. However, although the LCLUC program can contribute to the design and development of these systems, NASA is not an operational agency and is not well positioned to manage long-term operational monitoring systems. NASA primarily develops and tests aerospace technology, develops and launches instruments, provides observations, generates data products, and develops the associated modeling and analysis methods to address earth science questions. The NASA LCLUC program emphasizes studies where land-use change is rapid or where there are significant regional or global implications. In most countries, scientists are undertaking land-use research that reflects national priorities. In developing countries, such research is focused on pressing issues associated with improving land, resource management, human health and livelihoods. The LCLUC program promotes collaboration with incountry scientists and regional science networks, increasing their accessibility to NASA space-borne assets and in turn helping NASA scientists' access international data to address LCLUC issues. During its second phase, the LCLUC program contributed to the following large regional science programs: Central African Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE), the Land-BiosphereAtmosphere (LBA), the Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI), and the Monsoon Area Integrated Regional Study (MAIRS). NASA LCLUC contributed to these programs by soliciting, selecting and funding research projects, supporting NASA scientists to attend regional science workshops and undertaking LCLUC research aligned with the objectives of these programs. NEESPI and MAIRS are regional initiatives under the international programs IGBP, IHDP and WCRP. NEESPI has developed a comprehensive understanding of the Northern Eurasian terrestrial ecosystem dynamics, biogeochemical cycles, surface energy and water cycles, and human activities and how they interact with and alter the biosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere of the Earth (Groisman et al., 2006). The LCLUC program has been supportive of NEESPI since its inception (2004) and has been instrumental in improving accessibility to satellite datasets for the region from NASA and SCANEX, a regional data provider. MAIRS focuses on human monsoon system interaction and seeks to understand the extent human activities modulate the Asia monsoon climate and how the changed climate will further affect Asia's socioeconomic development. The LCLUC Program is strengthening the land-use research component of MAIRS (Qi et al., 2012). Recognizing the rapid land use changes that are underway in the South Asia region, NASA LCLUC program organized a regional

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science meeting during January 19e23, 2013 at Coimbatore, India (http://lcluc.umd.edu). The meeting provided an international forum to bring scientists together to discuss LCLUC and its impacts, with a regional focus. Nearly 120 participants from India attended the meeting. In addition, there were 18 researchers from the U.S., 3 from Nepal, 2 from Sri Lanka, and 1 each from Myanmar, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh. Several presentations during the meeting suggest that in South Asia; a). Agricultural land cover changes are occurring rapidly due to increasing urbanization; b). Increasingly, extreme events are negatively affecting agricultural production in South Asia, resulting in increasing inter-annual production variability and the unsustainability of traditional land use practices. Thus, LCLUC research integrated with mitigation and adaptation research is needed; c). Land use studies in the region need to better integrate research on irrigation resources and agricultural land use; d). Increased validation efforts are needed to improve drought forecasting, including crop yield estimation; e). Air pollution is one of the major concerns in the region. Thus, linking LCLUC with air quality and atmospheric impacts needs attention. Based on the presentations and discussions, an invited panel of regional scientists concluded the meeting with the need for the following recommendations (Vadrevu et al., 2013): a). Developing bilateral collaboration activities between South Asian countries and with the U.S. to strengthen regional LCLUC research; b). Both natural as well as agricultural systems in the South Asian region are undergoing natural as well as human-induced pressures and as such provide an opportunity to develop underpinning science; c). In South Asia, research into the links between LCLUC and climate change studies are needed, as are studies focusing on the impact of LCLUC on human livelihoods; d). There is a need to strengthen capacity building activities on the use of satellite remote sensing datasets for LCLUC research and that f). A regional integrated science initiative would enable regional scientists to promote scientific research, data collection and dissemination activities. Considering the above recommendations, the NASA LCLUC Program is planning to develop a new international regional integrated science program entitled the “South Asia Regional Initiative”. The special issue of this journal highlights regional case studies on LCLUC and impacts in South Asia with focus on agriculture, forest, urban and coastal areas. 5. Future directions With the increasing and competing demand for land to produce food, animal feed, and fuel from a growing human population and economic development, more attention will have to be paid to understanding the associated issues of land-use change. The trade-off between competing demands for land and the potential outcomes of different management strategies will need to be modeled in ways that can inform policies and the associated decision-making processes (Lambin and Meyfroidt, 2011). With global markets and economic development driving land-use change, continued focus on teleconnections and the distal economic drivers of land-use change will be needed (DeFries et al., 2010). Large tracts of land around the World are being converted from food crops to crops for fuel (e.g., corn and sugarcane for ethanol) or from woodland to agriculture, to reduce dependence on fossil fuel. However, such land-management changes have implications for food supply, water quality and biodiversity. Addressing individual demands for land in isolation ignores the proximate and distal impacts of land-use change, and a more holistic view of land use is needed to mitigate climate change (DeFries and Rosenzweig, 2010). Countries with rapidly developing economies are experiencing an increased demand for land. In many cases, traditional land tenure systems are poorly suited to the changing economy

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NASA Land Cover and Land Use Change (LCLUC): An interdisciplinary research program / Journal of Environmental Management 148 (2015) 4e9

and the demand for increased food production. Land reform will be needed and as a result we can envision further land use change. Changes in land-use policy and subsidies aimed at improving resource production may need to be reconsidered in light of the adverse impacts of land-use change on regional climate (McAlpine et al., 2009). In addition to human induced LCLUC, climate variability, extreme events and change are already leading to changes in land cover and land use. Studies that have examined the distribution of land use primarily related to changing physical climatic variables will need to be refined as the global and regional climate models are improved. Models of land-use change that address economic scenarios, constraints, and opportunities will need to be linked to these climate projections (e.g., Fischer et al., 2001). New integrated assessment models will be needed to provide a realistic coupling of human and natural systems and quantification of land-use transitions (e.g., Hurtt et al., 2002, 2006). These models will benefit from an improved set of data products from the satellite record providing more nuanced information on land-cover characteristics, land-use and land-management practices. Changes in land use will be a primary adaptation to climate change, and issues of vulnerability of land-use systems and the associated populations will need to be addressed. The program will continue to support cutting-edge research, and our researchers will contribute to some of the important land-use research issues associated with economic development and climate variability and change. Given the nature of land-use decisions and practices, it is important to continue the integrated approach to land-use science, combining physical and social science. Emphasis will be on issues of regional to global significance and of societal benefit. The primary emphasis will remain on the use of remote sensing. The recent NASA, NOAA and USGS missions, for example Landsat 8 and VIIRS, are providing new observations and continuing the long-term data record and new observation capabilities relevant for land-use science, such as space-borne lidar and soil moisture measurement are being developed by other parts of the NASA program. A focus for NASA will remain on developing new land-use and land-cover datasets to meet science needs and consistent long-term data records to quantify change. Within the LCLUC program, data fusion from various sensors and various parts of electromagnetic spectrum will be emphasized. Land-use change is pervasive, and the global connections of land use and the global importance of regional land-use changes require a global approach. The international dimension of the program will continue, enhancing collaborations with international scientists and supporting international programs that provide regional expertise and meet the goals of the LCLUC program. Acknowledgement The authors would like to thank several LCLUC project investigators (http://lcluc.umd.edu/) for the information on their respective research projects. References Becker-Reshef, I., Justice, C.O., Sullivan, M., Vermote, E., Tucker, C., Anyamba, A., Small, J., Pak, E., Masuoka, E., Schmaltz, J., Hansen, M., Pittman, K., Birkett, C., Williams, D., Reynolds, C., Doorn, B., 2010. Monitoring global croplands with coarse resolution earth observations: the Global Agriculture Monitoring (GLAM) project. Remote Sens. 2, 1589e1609. Broich, M., Hansen, M.C., Potapov, P., Adusei, B., Lindquist, E., Stehman, S.V., 2011. Time-series analysis of multi-resolution optical imagery for quantifying forest cover loss in Sumatra and Kalimantan, Indonesia. Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs. Geoinf. 13, 277e291. Carroll, M., Townshend, J., Hansen, M., DiMiceli, C., Sohlberg, R., Wurster, K., 2011. Vegetative cover conversion and vegetation continuous fields. In:

Ramachandran, B., Justice, C.O., Abrams, M. (Eds.), Land Remote Sensing and Global Environmental Change: NASA's Earth Observing System and the Science of ASTER and MODIS. Springer-Verlag. Csiszar, I., Schroeder, W., Giglio, L., Ellicott, E., Vadrevu, K.P., Justice, C.O., Wind, B., 2013a. Active fires from the Suomi NPP visible infrared imaging radiometer suite: product status and first evaluation results. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos. 119, 803e816. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2013JD020453. Csiszar, I.A., Justice, C.O., Goldammer, J.G., Lynham, T., de Groot, W.J., Prins, E.M., Elvidge, C.D., Oertel, D., Lorenz, E., Bobbe, T., Quayle, B., Davies, D., Roy, D., Boschetti, L., Korontzi, S., Ambrose, S., Stephens, G., 2013b. The GOFC/GOLD Fire Mapping and Monitoring theme: assessment and strategic plans. In: Qu, J.J., Sommers, W., Yang, R., Riebau, A., Kafatos, M. (Eds.), Remote Sensing Modeling and Applications to Wild Land Fires, vol. 2013. 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MODIS collection 5 global land cover: algorithm refinements and characterization of datasets. Remote Sens. Environ. 114, 168e182. Giri, C., Pengra, B., Zhu, Z., Singh, A., Tieszen, L.L., 2007. Monitoring Mangrove Forest Dynamics of the Sundarbans in Bangladesh and India Using Multi-temporal Satell Ite Data from 1973 to 2000. In: Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science, vol. 73. Elsevier Ltd, pp. 91e100. Goward, S.N., Arvidson, T., Williams, D.L., Irish, R., Irons, J.R., 2009. Moderate spatial resolution optical sensors. In: Warner, T.A., Nellis, M.D., Foody, M.D. (Eds.), Handbook of Remote Sensing. SAGE Publications, London, pp. 123e138. Goward, S., Williams, D., Arvidson, T., Irons, J., 2011. The future of landsat-class remote sensing. In: Ramachandran, Justice, C.O., Abrams, M.J. (Eds.), Land Remote Sensing and Global Environmental Change: NASA's Earth Observing System and the Science of ASTER and MODIS (Pp. 873), Series: Remote Sensing and Digital Image Processing, vol. 11. 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