Title: Evaluating the national land cover database tree canopy and impervious cover estimates across the conterminous United States: a comparison with photo-interpreted estimates

Author: Nowak, David J.; Greenfield, Eric J.

Year: 2010

Publication: Environmental Management. 46(3): 378-390.

Abstract: The 2001 National Land Cover Database (NLCD) provides 30-m resolution estimates of percentage tree canopy and percentage impervious cover for the conterminous United States. Previous estimates that compared NLCD tree canopy and impervious cover estimates with photo-interpreted cover estimates within selected counties and places revealed that NLCD underestimates tree and impervious cover. Based on these previous results, a wall-to-wall comprehensive national analysis was conducted to determine if and how NLCD derived estimates of tree and impervious cover varies from photo-interpreted values across the conterminous United States.