Characterizing and monitoring global landscapes using GlobeLand30 datasets: the first decade of the twenty-first century

Figures & data

Figure 1. Image tiles of GlobeLand30.

Table 1. Land cover nomenclature of GlobeLand30 (Chen et al., 2015a).

Land cover code	Land cover type	Covered features in each land type
10	Cultivated land	Lands used for agriculture, horticulture, and gardens, including paddy fields, irrigated and dry farmland, vegetation, and fruit gardens
20	Forest	Lands covered with trees, with vegetation cover over 30%, including deciduous and coniferous forests, and sparse woodland with cover 10–30%
30	Grassland	Lands covered by natural grass with cover over 10%
40	Shrubland	Lands covered with shrubs with cover over 30% including deciduous and evergreen shrub, and desert steppe with cover over 10%
50	Wetland	Lands covered with wetland plants and water bodies including inland marsh, lake marsh, river floodplain wetland, forest/shrub wetland, peat bogs, mangrove, and salt marsh
60	Water bodies	Water bodies in the land area, including river, lake, reservoir, fish pond, etc.
70	Tundra	Lands covered by lichen, moss, hardy perennial herb, and shrubs in the polar regions, including shrub tundra, herbaceous tundra, wet tundra, and barren tundra
80	Artificial surfaces	Lands modified by human activities, including all kinds of habitations, industrial and mining area, transportation facilities, and interior urban green zones and water bodies
90	Bareland	Lands with vegetation cover lower than 10% including desert, sandy fields, Gobi, bare rocks, saline and alkaline lands, etc.
100	Permanent snow and ice	Lands covered by permanent snow, glacier, and icecap

Figure 2. Flowchart of the study.

Table 2. The extent of land cover types across the globe in terms of square kilometres.

Land type	Europe 2000	Europe 2010	Africa 2000	Africa 2010	Australia 2000	Australia 2010	North America 2000	North America 2010	South America 2000	South America 2010	Asia 2000	Asia 2010
Cultivated land	4,255,079	4,272,047	2,421,142	2,576,138	897,371	896,610	3,740,298	3,758,403	2,334,448	2,537,606	9,399,463	9,421,258
Forest	3,763,340	3,719,013	7,861,527	5,281,318	3,424,438	3,384,905	11,131,083	10,681,146	8,191,146	8,279,340	20,689,693	20,458,861
Grassland	1,059,673	1,204,955	8,234,726	9,928,978	5,086,268	5,212,029	2,872,096	2,729,715	3,835,951	3,887,118	16,563,440	16,370,456
Scrubland	521,637	578,883	1,772,212	2,427,625	929,105	877,372	3,795,284	3,883,196	2,880,841	2,576,244	1,074,672	755,127
Wetland	243,604	246,982	411,330	391,661	149,084	129,701	1,758,283	1,741,990	763,732	778,811	1,660,337	1,705,973
Water bodies	392,417	379,130	323,234	308,054	93,082	93,046	2,659,334	2,635,632	350,257	318,887	2,025,780	2,007,386
Tundra	500,783	343,915	0	0	0	0	9,866,976	10,778,956	0	0	5,523,591	5,405,405
Artificial surfaces	367,117	373,157	90,196	99,546	35,292	35,096	353,191	371,661	64,940	69,358	510,627	558,862
Bareland	153,451	166,391	11,179,526	11,280,573	249,744	234,391	669,752	328,314	635,427	613,107	9,135,682	9,906,335
Permanent snow/ice	45,771	18,399	1	1	4662	5896	2,816,831	2,754,115	74,206	70,477	371,633	365,255

Figure 3. The variation of cultivated lands (a), artificial surfaces (b), forests (c), grasslands (d), scrublands (e), wetlands (f), barelands (g), and water bodies (h) across different continents within 2000–2010.

Figure 4. Land cover change statistics across Europe within 2000–2010.

Figure 5. Spatial patterns of land cover change in Europe and the changes within 2000–2010 are represented in red colour (colour online only).

Figure 6. Land cover change statistics across Asia within 2000–2010.

Figure 7. Spatial patterns of changes for four selected vibrant spots within 2000–2010 in Asia are represented in red colour (colour online only).

Figure 8. Land cover change statistics across North America within 2000–2010.

Figure 9. Spatial patterns of changes in North America within 2000–2010 are represented in red colour (colour online only).

Figure 10. Land cover change statistics across South America within 2000–2010.

Figure 11. Spatial patterns of land cover in South America and the changes within 2000–2010 are represented in red colour (colour online only).

Figure 12. Land cover change statistics across Australia within 2000–2010.

Figure 13. Spatial patterns of land cover changes across Australia within 2000–2010 are represented in red colour (colour online only).

Figure 14. Land cover change statistics across Africa within 2000–2010.

Figure 15. Spatial patterns of land cover changes across Africa for four selected close-ups within 2000–2010 are represented in red colour (colour online only).

Chen, J., J. Chen, A. Liao, X. Cao, L. Chen, X. Chen, C. He, et al. 2015a. “Global Land Cover Mapping at 30m Resolution: A POK-Based Operational Approach.” ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 103: 7–27. doi:10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2014.09.002.

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