Land Cover

Land cover classifications assign areas exhibiting different surface cover or type to well-characterized classes. Classes are defined by geologic, hydrologic, climatic, atmospheric and land-use processes. There can be only a few classes (water, bare rock, vegetation) or many. The more classes, the more detailed the land cover becomes, differentiating one type or forest or scrub land or wetland from multiple others. Land cover can be produced at a various spatial and temporal scales, ranging from infrequent to annual, and from local to expansive. 

The Canada Centre for Mapping and Earth Observation (CCMEO) has produced a number of national scale and northern land cover products at varying resolution.

• Northern Land Cover of Canada – circa 2000 (PDF, 260 KB)
• A complete orthorectified Landsat 7 mosaic of the Canadian arctic archipelago (PDF, 460 KB)

CCMEO-produced Long-term Satellite Data Records (LTSDR) permit the monitoring of vegetation change trends over time and space.

• Characterization and Monitoring Change of Canada’s Land Surface