Spatial statistical analysis of three global land cover maps

Three land cover maps: the IGBP DISCover Global Land Cover, UMD Global Land Cover, and the MODIS "Biome" map (to be used as input for the MODIS LAI/FPAR product) were subset over the EOS Land Validation Core Sites. This paper reports on the percentage land cover for these subsets and explores the spatial distribution of the dominant land cover. This analysis is used to quantify the homogeneity of the sites' land cover for an 11 km by 11 km area and then looks at the spatial distribution of the dominant land cover over a larger, 50 km by 50 km subset. The analysis provides metrics for the land cover homogeneity across the validation sites, which can help temper validation results coming from the various sites and provide insight on the extent to which validation activity carried out on a site can be applied to the surrounding area.