DEA Land Cover Level 3

Abstract Land cover is the observed physical cover on the Earth’s surface including trees, shrubs, grasses, soils, exposed rocks, water bodies, plantations, crops and built structures. A consistent, Australia-wide land cover product helps understanding of how the different parts of the environment change and inter-relate. Earth observation data recorded over a period of time firstly allows the observation of the state of land cover at a specific time and secondly the way that land cover changes by comparison between times. DEA Land Cover divides the landscape into six base land cover types, which are then further detailed through the addition of environmental descriptors. The structure is as follows: Cultivated Terrestrial Vegetation percentage of cover life form (woody or herbaceous only) Natural Terrestrial Vegetation percentage of cover life form (woody or herbaceous) Natural Aquatic Vegetation percentage of cover life form (woody or herbaceous) water seasonality Artificial Surfaces Natural Bare percentage of bare cover Water water persistence intertidal area Currency Date modified: April 2026 Modification frequency: Annually Version: 2.0.0 Data extent Coordinate reference: GDA94 / Australian Albers - EPSG:3577 Spatial extent west longitude: 112° south latitude: -44° east longitude: 154° north latitude: -10° Temporal coverage: 1988 to 2025 Source Information DEA Land Cover is based on the globally applicable Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) Land Cover Classification System (LCCS) taxonomy Version 2. DEA Land Cover classifications have been generated by combining quantitative (continuous) or qualitative (thematic) environmental information (referred to as Essential Descriptors; EDs) derived from Landsat satellite sensor data. Several EDs have been generated previously by Geoscience Australia, including annual water summaries, vegetation fractional cover, mangrove extent and the Inter Tidal Extent Model, whilst others have been developed more recently. These EDs have been combined to generate detailed, consistent and expandable annual classifications of Australia’s land cover from 1988 through to present. For a complete description of the methods used to produce DEA Land Cover, please see the DEA Knowledge Hub. Download the Raw source images To explore Landcover Level 3 and L4 data use the DEA Land Cover Explorer Application Lineage statement DEA Land Cover is based on the globally applicable Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) Land Cover Classification System (LCCS) taxonomy Version 2. DEA Land Cover classifications have been generated by combining quantitative (continuous) or qualitative (thematic) environmental information (referred to as Essential Descriptors; EDs) derived from Landsat satellite sensor data. The FAO LCCS taxonomy is hierarchical and consists of a dichotomous phase (Level 1 to 3) and a modular phase (referred to as Level 4). In Level 1, vegetated and non-vegetated areas are first separated. These are then divided into terrestrial or aquatic categories to form Level 2. In the vegetated terrestrial category, cultivated and natural (including semi-natural) areas are differentiated. The non-vegetated category is further divided into artificial surfaces, and natural surfaces incorporating low vegetation cover and bare areas. Including the non-vegetated aquatic class (from Level 2), this results in the creation of six base land cover categories. At Level 4, vegetated areas are further classified using information that differentiates lifeform (woody and herbaceous) and quantifies vegetation cover percent and water seasonality (for Natural Aquatic Vegetation). Natural Surface areas have information added (bare gradation) which describes the level of remaining vegetation present (sparse, very sparse or not detectable). Non-vegetated aquatic areas (Water) are further described on the basis of their persistence (hydroperiod) over a calendar year. The FAO LCCS differentiates water in different physical states (liquid or frozen; ice or snow), however only liquid water is included in the current release. For a complete description of product lineage, please see the DEA Knowledge Hub. For a complete discussion of the product quality and limitations, please see the DEA Knowledge Hub. Data dictionary Attribute Name Description Category Indicates Image as Primary or Overview. ClassName The land cover classification category the pixel is assigned to. datetime This date indicates the year that the annual summary layer represents. Since the layer summarises data for an entire calendar year, a date of '01/01/1988' indicates that it is a 1988 annual summary. Name The file name of the image. Contact Digital Earth Australia, [e-mail]摘要 土地覆盖（Land cover）指地球表面可观测的物理覆被类型，涵盖树木、灌木、草本植物、土壤、裸露岩石、水体、人工林、农作物与人工构筑物。一套统一的澳大利亚全国性土地覆盖产品，有助于解析环境各组成部分的变化过程与相互关联机制。长期记录的对地观测数据，一方面可用于获取特定时间点的土地覆盖状态，另一方面可通过多时相对比分析揭示土地覆盖的动态变化规律。 数字地球澳大利亚土地覆盖（Digital Earth Australia Land Cover, DEA Land Cover）将地表划分为6类基础土地覆盖类型，后续可通过添加环境描述符实现分类细化。其分类结构如下： 1. 耕地陆生植被（Cultivated Terrestrial Vegetation）：覆盖占比、生活型（仅木本或草本） 2. 自然陆生植被（Natural Terrestrial Vegetation）：覆盖占比、生活型（木本或草本） 3. 自然水生植被（Natural Aquatic Vegetation）：覆盖占比、生活型（木本或草本）、水体季节性（water seasonality） 4. 人工地表（Artificial Surfaces） 5. 自然裸地（Natural Bare）：裸地覆盖占比 6. 水体（Water）：水体持续性（water persistence）、潮间带区域（intertidal area） ## 更新信息 修改日期：2026年4月 更新频率：每年一次 版本：2.0.0 ## 数据范围 坐标参考系：GDA94 / 澳大利亚阿尔伯斯投影（Australian Albers）- EPSG:3577 空间范围：西经112°、南纬-44° 至 东经154°、北纬-10° 时间覆盖范围：1988年至2025年 ## 数据源说明 DEA Land Cover 基于全球通用的食品及农业组织（Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO）土地覆盖分类系统（Land Cover Classification System, LCCS）第2版分类体系。其分类结果通过融合从Landsat卫星传感器数据中提取的定量（连续型）或定性（专题型）环境信息（称为核心描述符（Essential Descriptors, EDs））生成。 澳大利亚地球科学局（Geoscience Australia）此前已生成多项核心描述符，包括年度水体摘要、植被覆盖度（vegetation fractional cover）、红树林分布范围与潮间带范围模型，其余部分则为近年新增开发。 上述核心描述符经整合后，生成了1988年至今澳大利亚全国土地覆盖的年度分类结果，该结果具备详细性、统一性与可扩展性。如需了解生成DEA Land Cover所用方法的完整说明，请参阅DEA知识中心（DEA Knowledge Hub）。 ## 原始影像下载与应用 若需探索三级（Level 3）与四级（Level 4）土地覆盖数据，请使用DEA土地覆盖浏览器应用程序（DEA Land Cover Explorer Application）。 ## 数据世系说明 DEA Land Cover 基于全球通用的食品及农业组织（FAO）土地覆盖分类系统（LCCS）第2版分类体系。其分类结果通过融合从Landsat卫星传感器数据中提取的定量（连续型）或定性（专题型）环境信息（称为核心描述符（EDs））生成。 FAO LCCS分类体系具备层级结构，包含二分法阶段（第1至3级）与模块化阶段（即第4级）。在第1级分类中，首先区分植被覆盖区与非植被覆盖区；随后将其划分为陆生或水生类别，形成第2级分类。在陆生植被覆盖类别中，进一步区分耕地与自然（含半自然）区域；非植被覆盖类别则被划分为人工地表，以及包含低植被覆盖与裸地区域的自然地表。结合第2级的非植被水生类别，最终形成6类基础土地覆盖类别。 在第4级分类中，植被覆盖区可通过生活型（木本与草本）区分信息、植被覆盖百分比量化信息，以及自然水生植被的水体季节性信息实现进一步细分。自然地表区域会添加裸地梯度信息，用于描述剩余植被的覆盖水平（稀疏、极稀疏或不可检测）。非植被水生区域（水体）则可依据其在一个日历年中的持续性（水文周期（hydroperiod））进行进一步描述。 FAO LCCS可区分不同物理状态的水体（液态或固态，即冰或雪），但当前版本仅包含液态水体。如需了解产品世系的完整说明，请参阅DEA知识中心；如需全面讨论产品质量与局限性，请参阅DEA知识中心。 ## 数据字典 | 属性名 | 说明 | | ------ | ---- | | Category | 标识影像为主影像或概览影像 | | ClassName | 像元所归属的土地覆盖分类类别 | | datetime | 该年度汇总图层所代表的年份。由于该图层汇总了一整个日历年的数据，因此日期格式如"01/01/1988"即代表1988年度的汇总结果 | | Name | 影像文件名 | | Contact | 数字地球澳大利亚（Digital Earth Australia），[e-mail]