Monitoring planted forest expansion from 1990-2020 in China

China has undertaken extensive afforestation efforts in recent decades. However, the effectiveness of these plantings varies with different environmental conditions. Whether China's forest expansion is primarily due to intentional planting or natural reforestation remains uncertain. Thus, assessing the growth of planted forests (PF) is crucial for monitoring forest quality and supporting China’s commitment to carbon neutrality. In this study, using 30 m Landsat time-series, we proposed a Continuous Change Detection and Classification (CCDC)-based PF expansion monitoring (C-PFM) method. Based on the C-PFM, 30 m annual maps for PF and natural forests (NF) across China from 1990 and 2020 were produced.