USFS Landscape Change Monitoring System v2024.10 (CONUS and OCONUS)

USFS/GTAC/LCMS/v2024-10
Dataset Availability
1985-01-01T00:00:00Z–2024-12-31T00:00:00Z
Dataset Provider
Earth Engine Snippet
ee.ImageCollection("USFS/GTAC/LCMS/v2024-10")
Tags
change-detection forest gtac landcover landuse landuse-landcover redcastle-resources usda usfs
lcms

Description

This product is part of the Landscape Change Monitoring System (LCMS) data suite. It shows LCMS-modeled change, land cover, and/or land use classes for each year and covers the Conterminous United States (CONUS) as well as areas outside the CONUS (OCONUS) including Alaska (AK), Puerto Rico-US Virgin Islands (PRUSVI), and Hawaii (HI). PRUSVI and HI v2024.10 data will be released late summer 2025. For now v2023.9 PRUSVI and HI LCMS data can be used (USFS/GTAC/LCMS/v2023-9).

LCMS is a remote sensing-based system for mapping and monitoring landscape change across the United States. Its objective is to develop a consistent approach using the latest technology and advancements in change detection to produce a "best available" map of landscape change.

Outputs include three annual products: change, land cover, and land use. The change model output relates specifically to vegetation cover and includes slow loss, fast loss (which also includes hydrologic changes such as inundation or desiccation), and gain. These values are predicted for each year of the Landsat time series and serve as the foundational products for LCMS. We apply a ruleset based on ancillary datasets to create the final change product, which is a refinement/reclassification of the modeled change to 15 classes that explicitly provide information on the cause of landscape change (e.g., Tree Removal, Wildfire, Wind damage). Land cover and land use maps depict life-form level land cover and broad-level land use for each year.

Because no algorithm performs best in all situations, LCMS uses an ensemble of models as predictors, which improves map accuracy across a range of ecosystems and change processes (Healey et al., 2018). The resulting suite of LCMS change, land cover, and land use maps offer a holistic depiction of landscape change across the United States since 1985.

Predictor layers for the LCMS model include outputs from the LandTrendr and CCDC change detection algorithms, and terrain information. These components are all accessed and processed using Google Earth Engine (Gorelick et al., 2017).

To produce annual composites for LandTrendr, USGS Collection 2 Landsat Tier 1 and Sentinel 2A, 2B Level-1C top of atmosphere reflectance data were used. The cFmask cloud masking algorithm (Foga et al., 2017), which is an implementation of Fmask 2.0 (Zhu and Woodcock, 2012) (Landsat-only), cloudScore (Chastain et al., 2019) (Landsat-only), s2cloudless (Sentinel-Hub, 2021) and Cloud Score plus (Pasquarella et al., 2023) (Sentinel 2-only) are used to mask clouds, while TDOM (Chastain et al., 2019) is used to mask cloud shadows (Landsat and Sentinel 2). For LandTrendr, the annual medoid is then computed to summarize cloud and cloud shadow-free values from each year into a single composite. For CCDC, United States Geological Survey (USGS) Collection 2 Landsat Tier 1 surface reflectance data were used for the CONUS, and Landsat Tier 1 top of atmosphere reflectance data for AK, PRUSVI, and HI.

The composite time series is temporally segmented using LandTrendr (Kennedy et al., 2010; Kennedy et al., 2018; Cohen et al., 2018).

All cloud and cloud shadow free values are also temporally segmented using the CCDC algorithm (Zhu and Woodcock, 2014).

Predictor data include raw composite values, LandTrendr fitted values, pair-wise differences, segment duration, change magnitude, and slope, and CCDC sine and cosine coefficients (first 3 harmonics), fitted values, and pairwise differences, along with elevation, slope, sine of aspect, cosine of aspect, and topographic position indices (Weiss, 2001) from the 10 m USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) data (U.S. Geological Survey, 2019).

Reference data are collected using TimeSync, a web-based tool that helps analysts visualize and interpret the Landsat data record from 1984-present (Cohen et al., 2010).

Random Forest models (Breiman, 2001) were trained using reference data from TimeSync and predictor data from LandTrendr, CCDC, and terrain indices to predict annual change, land cover, and land use classes. Following modeling, we institute a series of probability thresholds and rulesets using ancillary datasets to improve qualitative map outputs and reduce commission and omission. More information can be found in the LCMS Methods Brief included in the Description.

Additional Resources

Contact sm.fs.lcms@usda.gov with any questions or specific data requests.

Bands

Pixel Size
30 meters

Bands

Name Description
Change

Final thematic LCMS change product. A total of fifteen change classes are mapped for each year. Foundationally, change is modeled with three separate binary Random Forest models for each study area: slow loss, fast loss, and gain. Each pixel is assigned to the modeled change class with the highest probability that is also above a specified threshold. Any pixel that does not have any value above each class's respective threshold is assigned to the Stable class. Following a ruleset using the modeled change class, ancillary datasets (such as TCC, MTBS, and IDS), and LCMS Land Cover data, one of the 15 refined, cause of change classes is assigned to each pixel. See the LCMS Methods Brief linked to in the Description for full details on the ruleset and the ancillary datasets used.

Land_Cover

Final thematic LCMS land cover product. A total of 14 land cover classes are mapped on an annual basis using TimeSync reference data and spectral information derived from Landsat imagery. Land cover is predicted using a single multiclass Random Forest model, which outputs an array of the probabilities of each class (proportion of the trees within the Random Forest model that 'chose' each class). Final classes are assigned to the land use with the highest probability. Prior to assigning the land cover class with the highest probability, depending on the study area, one to several probability thresholds and rulesets using ancillary datasets were applied. More information on the probability thresholds and rulesets can be found in the LCMS Methods Brief linked to in the Description. Seven land cover classes indicate a single land cover, where that land cover type covers most of the pixel's area and no other class covers more than 10% of the pixel. There are also seven mixed classes. These represent pixels in which an additional land cover class covers at least 10% of the pixel.

Land_Use

Final thematic LCMS land use product. A total of 5 land use classes are mapped on an annual basis using TimeSync reference data and spectral information derived from Landsat imagery. Land use is predicted using a single multiclass Random Forest model, which outputs an array of the probabilities of each class (proportion of the trees within the Random Forest model that 'chose' each class). Final classes are assigned to the land use with the highest probability. Prior to assigning the land use class with the highest probability, a series of probability thresholds and rulesets using ancillary datasets were applied. More information on the probability thresholds and rulesets can be found in the LCMS Methods Brief linked to in the Description.

Change_Raw_Probability_Slow_Loss

Raw LCMS modeled probability of Slow Loss. Slow Loss includes the following classes from the TimeSync change process interpretation:

  • Structural Decline - Land where trees or other woody vegetation is physically altered by unfavorable growing conditions brought on by non-anthropogenic or non-mechanical factors. This type of loss should generally create a trend in the spectral signal(s) (e.g. NDVI decreasing, Wetness decreasing; SWIR increasing; etc.) however the trend can be subtle. Structural decline occurs in woody vegetation environments, most likely from insects, disease, drought, acid rain, etc. Structural decline can include defoliation events that do not result in mortality such as in Gypsy moth and spruce budworm infestations which may recover within 1 or 2 years.

  • Spectral Decline - A plot where the spectral signal shows a trend in one or more of the spectral bands or indices (e.g. NDVI decreasing, Wetness decreasing; SWIR increasing; etc.). Examples include cases where: a) non-forest/non-woody vegetation shows a trend suggestive of decline (e.g. NDVI decreasing, Wetness decreasing; SWIR increasing; etc.), or b) where woody vegetation shows a decline trend which is not related to the loss of woody vegetation, such as when mature tree canopies close resulting in increased shadowing, when species composition changes from conifer to hardwood, or when a dry period (as opposed to stronger, more acute drought) causes an apparent decline in vigor, but no loss of woody material or leaf area.

Change_Raw_Probability_Fast_Loss

Raw LCMS modeled probability of Fast Loss. Fast Loss includes the following classes from the TimeSync change process interpretation:

  • Fire - Land altered by fire, regardless of the cause of the ignition (natural or anthropogenic), severity, or land use.

  • Harvest - Forest land where trees, shrubs or other vegetation have been severed or removed by anthropogenic means. Examples include clearcutting, salvage logging after fire or insect outbreaks, thinning and other forest management prescriptions (e.g. shelterwood/seedtree harvest).

  • Mechanical - Non-forest land where trees, shrubs or other vegetation has been mechanically severed or removed by chaining, scraping, brush sawing, bulldozing, or any other methods of non-forest vegetation removal.

  • Wind/ice - Land (regardless of use) where vegetation is altered by wind from hurricanes, tornados, storms and other severe weather events including freezing rain from ice storms.

  • Hydrology - Land where flooding has significantly altered woody cover or other Land cover elements regardless of land use (e.g. new mixtures of gravel and vegetation in and around streambeds after a flood).

  • Debris - Land (regardless of use) altered by natural material movement associated with landslides, avalanches, volcanos, debris flows, etc.

  • Other - Land (regardless of use) where the spectral trend or other supporting evidence suggests a disturbance or change event has occurred but the definitive cause cannot be determined or the type of change fails to meet any of the change process categories defined above.

Change_Raw_Probability_Gain

Raw LCMS modeled probability of Gain. Defined as: Land exhibiting an increase in vegetation cover due to growth and succession over one or more years. Applicable to any areas that may express spectral change associated with vegetation regrowth. In developed areas, growth can result from maturing vegetation and/or newly installed lawns and landscaping. In forests, growth includes vegetation growth from bare ground, as well as the over topping of intermediate and co-dominate trees and/or lower-lying grasses and shrubs. Growth/Recovery segments recorded following forest harvest will likely transition through different land cover classes as the forest regenerates. For these changes to be considered growth/recovery, spectral values should closely adhere to an increasing trend line (e.g. a positive slope that would, if extended to ~20 years, be on the order of .10 units of NDVI) which persists for several years.

Land_Cover_Raw_Probability_Trees

Raw LCMS modeled probability of Trees. Defined as: The majority of the pixel is comprised of live or standing dead trees.

Land_Cover_Raw_Probability_Tall-Shrubs-and-Trees-Mix

Raw LCMS modeled probability of Tall Shrubs and Trees Mix (AK Only). Defined as: The majority of the pixel is comprised of shrubs greater than 1m in height and is also comprised of at least 10% live or standing dead trees.

Land_Cover_Raw_Probability_Shrubs-and-Trees-Mix

Raw LCMS modeled probability of Shrubs and Trees Mix. Defined as: The majority of the pixel is comprised of shrubs and is also comprised of at least 10% live or standing dead trees.

Land_Cover_Raw_Probability_Grass-Forb-Herb-and-Trees-Mix

Raw LCMS modeled probability of Grass/Forb/Herb and Trees Mix. Defined as: The majority of the pixel is comprised of perennial grasses, forbs, or other forms of herbaceous vegetation and is also comprised of at least 10% live or standing dead trees.

Land_Cover_Raw_Probability_Barren-and-Trees-Mix

Raw LCMS modeled probability of Barren and Trees Mix. Defined as: The majority of the pixel is comprised of bare soil exposed by disturbance (e.g., soil uncovered by mechanical clearing or forest harvest), as well as perennially barren areas such as deserts, playas, rock outcroppings (including minerals and other geologic materials exposed by surface mining activities), sand dunes, salt flats, and beaches. Roads made of dirt and gravel are also considered barren and is also comprised of at least 10% live or standing dead trees.

Land_Cover_Raw_Probability_Tall-Shrubs

Raw LCMS modeled probability of Tall Shrubs (AK Only). Defined as: The majority of the pixel is comprised of shrubs greater than 1m in height.

Land_Cover_Raw_Probability_Shrubs

Raw LCMS modeled probability of Shrubs. Defined as: The majority of the pixel is comprised of shrubs.

Land_Cover_Raw_Probability_Grass-Forb-Herb-and-Shrubs-Mix

Raw LCMS modeled probability of Grass/Forb/Herb and Shrubs Mix. Defined as: The majority of the pixel is comprised of perennial grasses, forbs, or other forms of herbaceous vegetation and is also comprised of at least 10% shrubs.

Land_Cover_Raw_Probability_Barren-and-Shrubs-Mix

Raw LCMS modeled probability of Barren and Shrubs Mix. Defined as: The majority of the pixel is comprised of bare soil exposed by disturbance (e.g., soil uncovered by mechanical clearing or forest harvest), as well as perennially barren areas such as deserts, playas, rock outcroppings (including minerals and other geologic materials exposed by surface mining activities), sand dunes, salt flats, and beaches. Roads made of dirt and gravel are also considered barren and is also comprised of at least 10% shrubs.

Land_Cover_Raw_Probability_Grass-Forb-Herb

Raw LCMS modeled probability of Grass/Forb/Herb. Defined as: The majority of the pixel is comprised of perennial grasses, forbs, or other forms of herbaceous vegetation.

Land_Cover_Raw_Probability_Barren-and-Grass-Forb-Herb-Mix

Raw LCMS modeled probability of Barren and Grass/Forb/Herb Mix. Defined as: The majority of the pixel is comprised of bare soil exposed by disturbance (e.g., soil uncovered by mechanical clearing or forest harvest), as well as perennially barren areas such as deserts, playas, rock outcroppings (including minerals and other geologic materials exposed by surface mining activities), sand dunes, salt flats, and beaches. Roads made of dirt and gravel are also considered barren and is also comprised of at least 10% perennial grasses, forbs, or other forms of herbaceous vegetation.

Land_Cover_Raw_Probability_Barren-or-Impervious

Raw LCMS modeled probability of Barren or Impervious. Defined as: The majority of the pixel is comprised of 1.) bare soil exposed by disturbance (e.g., soil uncovered by mechanical clearing or forest harvest), as well as perennially barren areas such as deserts, playas, rock outcroppings (including minerals and other geologic materials exposed by surface mining activities), sand dunes, salt flats, and beaches. Roads made of dirt and gravel are also considered barren or 2.) man-made materials that water cannot penetrate, such as paved roads, rooftops, and parking lots.

Land_Cover_Raw_Probability_Snow-or-Ice

Raw LCMS modeled probability of Snow or Ice. Defined as: The majority of the pixel is comprised of snow or ice.

Land_Cover_Raw_Probability_Water

Raw LCMS modeled probability of Water. Defined as: The majority of the pixel is comprised of water.

Land_Use_Raw_Probability_Agriculture

Raw LCMS modeled probability of Agriculture. Defined as: Land used for the production of food, fiber and fuels which is in either a vegetated or non-vegetated state. This includes but is not limited to cultivated and uncultivated croplands, hay lands, orchards, vineyards, confined livestock operations, and areas planted for production of fruits, nuts or berries. Roads used primarily for agricultural use (i.e. not used for public transport from town to town) are considered agriculture land use.

Land_Use_Raw_Probability_Developed

Raw LCMS modeled probability of Developed. Defined as: Land covered by man-made structures (e.g. high density residential, commercial, industrial, mining or transportation), or a mixture of both vegetation (including trees) and structures (e.g., low density residential, lawns, recreational facilities, cemeteries, transportation and utility corridors, etc.), including any land functionally altered by human activity.

Land_Use_Raw_Probability_Forest

Raw LCMS modeled probability of Forest. Defined as: Land that is planted or naturally vegetated and which contains (or is likely to contain) 10% or greater tree cover at some time during a near-term successional sequence. This may include deciduous, evergreen and/or mixed categories of natural forest, forest plantations, and woody wetlands.

Land_Use_Raw_Probability_Other

Raw LCMS modeled probability of Other. Defined as: Land (regardless of use) where the spectral trend or other supporting evidence suggests a disturbance or change event has occurred but the definitive cause cannot be determined or the type of change fails to meet any of the change process categories defined above.

Land_Use_Raw_Probability_Rangeland-or-Pasture

Raw LCMS modeled probability of Rangeland or Pasture. Defined as: This class includes any area that is either a.) Rangeland, where vegetation is a mix of native grasses, shrubs, forbs and grass-like plants largely arising from natural factors and processes such as rainfall, temperature, elevation and fire, although limited management may include prescribed burning as well as grazing by domestic and wild herbivores; or b.) Pasture, where vegetation may range from mixed, largely natural grasses, forbs and herbs to more managed vegetation dominated by grass species that have been seeded and managed to maintain near monoculture.

QA_Bits

Ancillary information on the origin of the annual LCMS product output values.

Change Class Table

Value Color Description
1 #ff09f3

Wind

2 #541aff

Hurricane

3 #e4f5fd

Snow or Ice Transition

4 #cc982e

Desiccation

5 #0adaff

Inundation

6 #a10018

Prescribed Fire

7 #d54309

Wildfire

8 #fafa4b

Mechanical Land Transformation

9 #afde1c

Tree Removal

10 #ffc80d

Defoliation

11 #a64c28

Southern Pine Beetle

12 #f39268

Insect, Disease, or Drought Stress

13 #c291d5

Other Loss

14 #00a398

Vegetation Successional Growth

15 #3d4551

Stable

16 #1b1716

Non-Processing Area Mask

Land_Cover Class Table

Value Color Description
1 #004e2b

Trees

2 #009344

Tall Shrubs & Trees Mix (AK Only)

3 #61bb46

Shrubs & Trees Mix

4 #acbb67

Grass/Forb/Herb & Trees Mix

5 #8b8560

Barren & Trees Mix

6 #cafd4b

Tall Shrubs (AK Only)

7 #f89a1c

Shrubs

8 #8fa55f

Grass/Forb/Herb & Shrubs Mix

9 #bebb8e

Barren & Shrubs Mix

10 #e5e98a

Grass/Forb/Herb

11 #ddb925

Barren & Grass/Forb/Herb Mix

12 #893f54

Barren or Impervious

13 #e4f5fd

Snow or Ice

14 #00b6f0

Water

15 #1b1716

Non-Processing Area Mask

Land_Use Class Table

Value Color Description
1 #fbff97

Agriculture

2 #e6558b

Developed

3 #004e2b

Forest

4 #9dbac5

Other

5 #a6976a

Rangeland or Pasture

6 #1b1716

Non-Processing Area Mask

Image Properties

Image Properties

Name Type Description
study_area STRING

LCMS currently covers the conterminous United States, Alaska, Puerto Rico-US Virgin Islands, and Hawaii. This version contains CONUS. The data for AK, PRUSVI, and HI will be released late summer 2025. Possible values: 'CONUS, AK'

version STRING

Version of the product

startYear INT

Start year of the product

endYear INT

End year of the product

year INT

Year of the product

Terms of Use

Terms of Use

The USDA Forest Service makes no warranty, expressed or implied, including the warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, nor assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, reliability, completeness or utility of these geospatial data, or for the improper or incorrect use of these geospatial data. These geospatial data and related maps or graphics are not legal documents and are not intended to be used as such. The data and maps may not be used to determine title, ownership, legal descriptions or boundaries, legal jurisdiction, or restrictions that may be in place on either public or private land. Natural hazards may or may not be depicted on the data and maps, and land users should exercise due caution. The data are dynamic and may change over time. The user is responsible to verify the limitations of the geospatial data and to use the data accordingly.

These data were collected using funding from the U.S. Government and can be used without additional permissions or fees. If you use these data in a publication, presentation, or other research product please use the following citation:

USDA Forest Service. 2025. USFS Landscape Change Monitoring System v2024.10 (Conterminous United States and Outer Conterminous United States). Salt Lake City, Utah.

Citations

Citations:
  • USDA Forest Service. 2025. USFS Landscape Change Monitoring System v2024.10 (Conterminous United States and Outer Conterminous United States). Salt Lake City, Utah.

  • Breiman, L., 2001. Random Forests. In Machine Learning. Springer, 45: 5-32. doi:10.1023/A:1010933404324

  • Chastain, R., Housman, I., Goldstein, J., Finco, M., and Tenneson, K., 2019. Empirical cross sensor comparison of Sentinel-2A and 2B MSI, Landsat-8 OLI, and Landsat-7 ETM top of atmosphere spectral characteristics over the conterminous United States. In Remote Sensing of Environment. Science Direct, 221: 274-285. doi:10.1016/j.rse.2018.11.012

  • Cohen, W. B., Yang, Z., and Kennedy, R., 2010. Detecting trends in forest disturbance and recovery using yearly Landsat time series: 2. TimeSync - Tools for calibration and validation. In Remote Sensing of Environment. Science Direct, 114(12): 2911-2924. doi:10.1016/j.rse.2010.07.010

  • Cohen, W. B., Yang, Z., Healey, S. P., Kennedy, R. E., and Gorelick, N., 2018. A LandTrendr multispectral ensemble for forest disturbance detection. In Remote Sensing of Environment. Science Direct, 205: 131-140. doi:10.1016/j.rse.2017.11.015

  • Foga, S., Scaramuzza, P.L., Guo, S., Zhu, Z., Dilley, R.D., Beckmann, T., Schmidt, G.L., Dwyer, J.L., Hughes, M.J., Laue, B., 2017. Cloud detection algorithm comparison and validation for operational Landsat data products. In Remote Sensing of Environment. Science Direct, 194: 379-390. doi:10.1016/j.rse.2017.03.026

  • U.S. Geological Survey, 2019. USGS 3D Elevation Program Digital Elevation Model, accessed August 2022 at https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/USGS_3DEP_10m

  • Healey, S. P., Cohen, W. B., Yang, Z., Kenneth Brewer, C., Brooks, E. B., Gorelick, N., Hernandez, A. J., Huang, C., Joseph Hughes, M., Kennedy, R. E., Loveland, T. R., Moisen, G. G., Schroeder, T. A., Stehman, S. V., Vogelmann, J. E., Woodcock, C. E., Yang, L., and Zhu, Z., 2018. Mapping forest change using stacked generalization: An ensemble approach. In Remote Sensing of Environment. Science Direct, 204: 717-728. doi:10.1016/j.rse.2017.09.029

  • Kennedy, R. E., Yang, Z., and Cohen, W. B., 2010. Detecting trends in forest disturbance and recovery using yearly Landsat time series: 1. LandTrendr - Temporal segmentation algorithms. In Remote Sensing of Environment. Science Direct, 114(12): 2897-2910. doi:10.1016/j.rse.2010.07.008

  • Kennedy, R., Yang, Z., Gorelick, N., Braaten, J., Cavalcante, L., Cohen, W., and Healey, S. 2018. Implementation of the LandTrendr Algorithm on Google Earth Engine. In Remote Sensing. MDPI, 10(5): 691. doi:10.3390/rs10050691

  • Pasquarella, V. J., Brown, C. F., Czerwinski, W., and Rucklidge, W. J., 2023. Comprehensive Quality Assessment of Optical Satellite Imagery Using Weakly Supervised Video Learning. In Proceedings of the IEEE/CVF Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition. 2124-2134.

  • Sentinel-Hub, 2021. Sentinel 2 Cloud Detector. [Online]. Available at: https://github.com/sentinel-hub/sentinel2-cloud-detector

  • Weiss, A.D., 2001. Topographic position and landforms analysis Poster Presentation, ESRI Users Conference, San Diego, CAZhu, Z., and Woodcock, C. E. 2012. Object-based cloud and cloud shadow detection in Landsat imagery. 118: 83-94.

  • Zhu, Z., and Woodcock, C. E., 2012. Object-based cloud and cloud shadow detection in Landsat imagery. In Remote Sensing of Environment. Science Direct, 118: 83-94. doi:10.1016/j.rse.2011.10.028

  • Zhu, Z., and Woodcock, C. E., 2014. Continuous change detection and classification of land cover using all available Landsat data. In Remote Sensing of Environment. Science Direct, 144: 152-171. doi:10.1016/j.rse.2014.01.011

DOIs

Explore with Earth Engine

Code Editor (JavaScript)

var dataset = ee.ImageCollection('USFS/GTAC/LCMS/v2024-10');

var lcms = dataset.filterDate('2022', '2023')  // range: [1985, 2024]
               .filter('study_area == "CONUS"')  // or "AK" 
               .first();

Map.addLayer(lcms.select('Land_Cover'), {}, 'Land Cover');
Map.addLayer(lcms.select('Land_Use'), {}, 'Land Use');
Map.addLayer(lcms.select('Change'), {}, 'Vegetation Change', false);

Map.setCenter(-98.58, 38.14, 4);
Open in Code Editor