Edinburg Forest Map of the Forest Ecosystem Dynamics Project Spatial Data Archive

Forest Ecosystem Dynamics (FED) Project Spatial Data Archive:
Edinburg Township Forest Map

The Biospheric Sciences Branch (formerly Earth Resources Branch)
within the Laboratory for Terrestrial Physics at NASA's Goddard Space
Flight Center and associated University investigators are involved in
a research program entitled Forest Ecosystem Dynamics (FED) which is
fundamentally concerned with vegetation change of forest ecosystems at
local to regional spatial scales (100 to 10,000 meters) and temporal
scales ranging from monthly to decadal periods (10 to 100 years). The
nature and extent of the impacts of these changes, as well as the
feedbacks to global climate, may be addressed through modeling the
interactions of the vegetation, soil, and energy components of the
boreal ecosystem.

The Howland Forest research site lies within the Northern Experimental
Forest of International Paper. The natural stands in this
boreal-northern hardwood transitional forest consist of
spruce-hemlock-fir, aspen-birch, and hemlock-hardwood mixtures. The
topography of the region varies from flat to gently rolling, with a
maximum elevation change of less than 68 m within 10 km. Due to the
region's glacial history, soil drainage classes within a small area
may vary widely, from well drained to poorly drained. Consequently,
an elaborate patchwork of forest communities has developed, supporting
exceptional local species diversity.

This data layer contains forest polygons with information on cover
type, volume, and crown closure for both the forest overstory and
understory for the Township of Edinburg located in Penobscot County,
Maine. The map was digitized, projected and differentially corrected
using Global Positioning System points. Forest types were determined
by delineation from color infrared photographs.

Note that the USGS records show that the orthophotoquads from which
the data were digitized are in the Transverse Mercator projection. The
printed map grid on both Howland and Edinburg maps is in the Universal
Transverse Mercator projection. So, although the Edinburg map states
that base map and control are from a Polyconic projection, (the
Howland does not mention projection) the original base maps were
assumed to be in the Transverse Mercator.

Information about the FED project and other datasets can be found
at the FED Home Page: "https://forest.gsfc.nasa.gov/".