Section 1	Identification Information
Originator	Peter T. Wolter
Title	Landsat TM Forest Classification for Northeastern Minnesota
Abstract	Wolter, Peter T. and David J. Mladenoff, 1995. Improved forest classification of northeastern Minnesota using Multi-temporal Landsat data and National Wetlands Inventory data. Proceedings of the 10th Annual U.S. Landscape Ecology Symposium, April 22-26, 1995. Forest classifications using Landsat TM data have been only moderately successful in separating forest cover types in the northern Lake States region where forest cover types are notoriously heterogeneous. Forest cover types in northern Wisconsin were classified to roughly Anderson III precision with 80 percent accuracy by incorporating Landsat imagery from several key phenological dates. One criticism of the Wisconsin classification work was that the study region used was not fully representative of what is considered classic northern Lake States cover type heterogeneity (i.e., northeastern Minnesota). In this study we developed a more specific forest cover type classification for northeastern Minnesota using Landsat TM data from early summer in conjunction with key ancilliary MSS and TM dates to capture phenological changes of different tree species. In addition to satellite data, National Wetlands Inventory data were used to post-classify cover types that were initially confused in terms of spectral reflectance but were known to be associated with different soil moisture regines. Of greatest significance, aspen-birch, maple, black ash, and tamarack were sucessfully classified. This approach may be useful for broad-scale forest monitoring in other areas, particularly where ancilliary data layers are available.
Purpose	Developed for the Forest Bird Monitoring Initiative funded by LCMR and the USDA Forest Service.
Time Period of Content Date
Currentness Reference	Date of the base TM scene for the: Chippewa National Forest region 8/6/1990 western Superior NF region 7/31/1990 eastern Superior NF region 7/2/1988 Mille Lacs - St. Croix region 6/5/1987
Progress	Complete
Maintenance and Update Frequency	As needed
Spatial Extent of Data	Landsat World-wide Reference System (WRS) coordinates 28/27, 27/27, 26/27, 27/28 in the same order listed for the dates
Bounding Coordinates	-95.60 -89.67 48.62 45.07
Place Keywords	Duluth, Minnesota is approximately the geographic center of these data.
Theme Keywords	Dominant species forest cover classification for northeast Minnesota.
Theme Keyword Thesaurus	Landsat TM
Access Constraints
Use Constraints	Use of these data is restricted to the purchaser; the data may not be distributed third party entities. Any use or analysis of these data resulting in publication, technical reports or maps must give credit to Peter T. Wolter, David J. Mladenoff, Gerald Niemi and the Natural Resources Research Institute GIS Lab, UMD. Credits should also include the funding source: This landuse/landcover map was funded with dollars appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature from the Environmental Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative Commission on Minnesota Resources.
Contact Person Information	Peter T. Wolter, Research Fellow Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota - Duluth 5013 Miller Trunk Highway Duluth, Minnesota 55811 Phone: 218 720 4275 FAX: 218 720 4219 E-mail: pwolter@sparkie.nrri.umn.edu
Browse Graphic File Name	none available
Browse Graphic File Description	none
Associated Data Sets	none
Section 2	Data Quality Information - - - - - - Go back to top
Attribute Accuracy	Overall classification accuracy ranges from 72 to 75 while individual forest class accuracies range from approximately 65 to 95 percent. These data were validated using the Minnesota DNR's Phase II forest inventory data (CSA).
Logical Consistency	The 'conifer, low density' attribute is a confusion class from the eastern Superior National Forest region (WRS 26/27). Atmospheric problems captured by the 7-2-88 Landsat TM scene precluded confident separation of sparse conifers --largely jack pine-- that were associated with bare to brushy matrix ground cover. Therefore, these covertypes were put into their own class.
Completeness	jack pine = dominated by jack pine jack pine - hardwood = jack pine with hardwood associate in overstory jack pine - oak = jack pine with a pin oak associate red pine = dominated by red pine red pine - hardwood = red pine with hardwood associate in overstory spruce/fir = balsam fir and white spruce occuring singlely or in mixture spruce/fir - hardwood = spruce/fir with hardwood associate in overstory cedar = dominated by northern white-cedar cedar - hardwood = N. white-cedar with hardwood associate in overstory tamarack = dominated by eastern larch -- tamarack black spruce = dominated by black spruce acid bog conifer = stagnant black spruce, tamarack or N. white-cedar conifers, low density = sparse conifer associated with grass and brush conifer, regeneration = primarily regenerating red pine or jack pine black ash = dominated by black ash black ash - conifer = black ash with conifer associate in overstory black ash - conifer under = black ash with understory conifer associate hardwoods, misc. lowland = undifferentiated lowland hardwoods aspen/birch = dominated by aspen or birch singlely or in mixture aspen/birch - conifer = aspen/birch with conifer associate in overstory aspen/birch - conifer under = aspen/birch with conifer in the understory northern hardwoods = dominated by Acer spp. N. hardwoods - conifer = N. hardwoods with conifer in overstory N. hardwoods - conifer under = N. Hardwoods with conifer in understory red oak = dominated by red oak oak - pine = pin oak and red oak with a conifer associate hardwoods, transitional = sparse hardwood with brush/grass associations hardwood regeneration = regenerating hardwood < approx. 5 years old bare = bare soil or rock outcrop water = rivers, lakes, ponds and reservoirs aquatic emergent = Scirpus spp., Nuphar spp, wild rice, etc. emergent = Typha spp., Carex spp., etc. Sphagnum = Sphagnum spp. grass, native = native upland graminoids grass, native (lowland) = native lowland graminoids grass, cool season = native graminoids that have greened up by mid-May grass, domestic = agriculture or domestic herbaceous vegetation brush, alder = mesic brush dominated by alder brush, alder (lowland) = wetland brush dominated by Alnus spp. brush, willow = mesic brush dominated by Salix spp. brush, willow (lowland) = lowland brush dominated by Salix spp. brush, misc. = Corylous spp., Cornus spp., Alnus spp., Salix spp., etc. brush, misc. (lowland) = primarily Alnus spp. and Salix spp. brush, ericacious = bog rosemary, labrador tea, leather leaf, etc. developed = commercial, residential, recreational or industrial roads = paved and unpaved roads; augmented using TIGER DLG data.
Horizontal Positional Accuracy	RMS error < 0.5 pixels (14.25 meters) using a second order polynomial transformation. USGS 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle maps were used as the reference for the transformation.
Vertical Positional Accuracy	none
Lineage	For an overview of the basic techniques used to classify this region see: Wolter, P.T., D.J. Mladenoff, G.E. Host and T.C. Crow, 1995. Improved forest classification in the northern Lake States using multi-temporal Landsat imagery, Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing, 61(9):1129-1143. Data used: Chippewa footprint (WRS 28/27); TM 8-6-90 MSS 5-13-88, 9-26-85, 8-9-90 Superior footprint (WRS 26/27); TM 7-2-88, 3-6-84 MSS 5-26-86, 9-26-90 Iron Range footprint (WRS 27/27); TM 7-31-90, 5-12-90, 9-20-91, 2-25-92 St. Croix footprint (WRS 27/28); TM 6-5-87, 2-25-92 MSS 5-4-87, 10-14-88
Source Scale Denominator	24000
Section 3	Spatial Data Organization Information - - - - - - Go back to top
Native Data Set Environment	These data --arrow83b.img 220megs-- were generated using ERDAS Imagine 8.3 on a SUN Sparc Station 5.
Geographic Reference for Tabular Data
Spatial Object Type	Raster
Vendor Specific Object Types	cell
Tiling Scheme	none
Section 4	Spatial Reference Information - - - - - - Go back to top
Horizontal Coordinate Scheme	UTM
Ellipsoid	GRS80
Horizontal Datum	NAD83
Horizontal Units	Meters
Distance Resolution	28.5
Altitude Datum	Not applicable
Altitude Units	Not applicable
Depth Datum	Not applicable
Depth Units	Not applicable
Cell Width	28.5
Cell Height	28.5
UTM Zone Number	15
Section 5	Entity and Attribute Information - - - - - - Go back to top
Entity and Attribute Overview	These vegetation cover type data for northeastern Minnesota were derived from Landsat TM and MSS data sources. Information regarding forest cover is based on the dominant species or dominant association (e.g., northern hardwoods, spruce-fir or aspen-birch). No tree density, volumn or specific age class information is contained within these data.
Entity and Attribute Detailed Citation
Section 6	Distribution Information - - - - - - Go back to top
Publisher	Peter T. Wolter, Natural Resources Research Institute - UMD
Publication Date	Periodically revised
Online Linkage	http://gisdata.nrri.umn.edu/coastalgisdata/Lake_Superior_Basin_shapefiles/arrow95.zip
Contact Person Information	Gerald Sjerven GIS Specialist NRRI-CWE 5013 Miller Trunk Highway Duluth, MN 55811-1442 Phone: 218-720-4388 FAX: 218-720-4328 E-mail: gsjerven@nrri.umn.edu
Distributor's Data Set Identifier
Distribution Liability
Transfer Format Name
Transfer Format Version Number
Transfer Size
Ordering Instructions
Section 7	Metadata Reference Information - - - - - - Go back to top
Metadata Date
Contact Person Information	Gerald Sjerven GIS Specialist NRRI-CWE 5013 Miller Trunk Highway Duluth, MN 55811-1442 Phone: 218-720-4388 FAX: 218-720-4328 E-mail: gsjerven@nrri.umn.edu
Metadata Standard Name
Metadata Standard Version
Metadata Standard Online Linkage

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