Virgin Islands land cover and forest structure

This data publication contains five raster datasets detailing the land cover and forest structure of the United States Virgin Islands and British Virgin Islands. There are two spatial land cover datasets, provided in multiple formats, that represent land-cover and woody vegetation formations using multi-part Landsat ETM+ scenes centered around the year 2000. Also included is a digital elevation model (DEM) that was created using discrete lidar data collected in 2004. The DEM was created by filtering ground (minimum elevation) and non-ground (mean and maximum elevation) returns to create a bare earth DEM and forest height estimates for the islands of St. John and St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands. Two additional raster datasets include models that displays the spatial representation of lidar derived (1) dominant co-dominant tree height estimates and (2) above ground biomass estimates for the islands of St. John and St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands.1. The landcover datasets represent a year 2000 classification for the United States and British Virgin Islands as part of a Caribbean wide effort to develop detailed landuse/landcover products for the Caribbean region. 2. The lidar DEM was created to provide the USDA Forest Service, International Institute of Tropical Forestry with spatial representation of lidar derived surface elevation estimates for the islands of St. John and St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands. St. John and St. Thomas were selected as the lidar study area based on the availability of lidar data coverage. 3 & 4. The models were created to provide the USDA Forest Service, International Institute of Tropical Forestry with spatial representation of lidar derived dominant co-dominant tree height estimates and above ground biomass estimates for the islands of St. John and St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands. St. John and St. Thomas were selected as the lidar study area based on the availability of lidar data coverage. The island of St. John (18°22'N, 64°40'W) and the island of St. Thomas (18°21'N, 64°55') are approximately 5,000 and 7,200 hectares in area, respectively, and consist of mountainous topography with elevations ranging from sea level to 387 meters on St. John and 471 meters on St. Thomas. The woody vegetation on both islands is similar to other islands in the Virgin Islands and includes both late and early stage successional forests.These datasets were completed as part of the fullfillment of a Master's of Science degree by Todd Kennaway within the Department of Forest Rangeland and Watershed Stewardship (FRWS) under the College of Natural Resources at Colorado State University. For more information about these data see Kennaway et al. (2008).