Laboratório de Sensoriamento Remoto Aplicado à Agricultura e Floresta - LAF
(3) Annual land use and land cover maps for Northeast Brazil (2000–2020) using an ecoregion-specific approach – includes maps available in two thematic legend levels. Methodology and results in Ganem et al. (2025), GIScience & Remote Sensing. For feedback or questions, contact khalilganem@ucla.edu
This product is the result of a collaboration between researchers from UCLA Geography, INPE, and APNE. The methodology, results, and comparison with existing global and national datasets are detailed in Ganem et al. (2025). Any use of this product must cite the following publication:
Ganem, K. A.; Xue, Y.; Dutra, A. C.; Pareyn, F. G. C.; Shimabukuro, Y. E. (2025). From rainforests to drylands: A context-specific framework for mapping land use and land cover dynamics in Northeast Brazil (2000–2020). GIScience & Remote Sensing, 62(1), 2510140. https://doi.org/10.1080/15481603.2025.2510140
This dataset provides annual land use and land cover (LULC) classifications for Northeast Brazil (NEB) from 2000 to 2020, based on MODIS surface reflectance imagery. Using a context-specific Random Forest model with 56 features, classifications were tailored to each NEB ecoregion and validated with over 10,000 independent reference points. The dataset includes a two-tier legend that uniquely distinguishes NEB shrublands at the national level, aligns with global datasets (7 Level-1 classes), and preserves ecoregional detail (16 Level-2 classes). The 2018 map achieved 90.5% overall accuracy at Level-1. At Level-2, ecoregional accuracies were 95.9% (Amazon), 94.3% (Atlantic Forest), 89.4% (Cerrado), and 87.9% (Caatinga).
Each map is available in GeoTIFF (.tif) format and projected in the EPSG:4674 (SIRGAS 2000) coordinate reference system. Pixel values represent land use and land cover classes:
Level-1 Legend
0 – No Data
1 – Forest
2 – Savanna
3 – Shrub
4 – Grass
5 – Farming (Pasture + Cropland combined)
6 – Non-Vegetated
7 – Water
0 – No Data
1 – Forest
2 – Savanna
3 – Shrub
4 – Grass
5 – Farming (Pasture + Cropland combined)
6 – Non-Vegetated
7 – Water
Level-2 Legend
0 – No Data
1 – Amazon Forest
2 – Atlantic Forest
3 – Cerrado Forest
4 – Caatinga Forest
5 – Amazon Mangrove
6 – Cerrado Savanna
7 – Caatinga Savanna
8 – Caatinga Shrub
9 – Cerrado Shrub
10 – Caatinga Grass
11 – Forest Plantation
12 – Cropland
13 – Pastureland
14 – Urban Areas
15 – Non-Vegetated
16 – Water
0 – No Data
1 – Amazon Forest
2 – Atlantic Forest
3 – Cerrado Forest
4 – Caatinga Forest
5 – Amazon Mangrove
6 – Cerrado Savanna
7 – Caatinga Savanna
8 – Caatinga Shrub
9 – Cerrado Shrub
10 – Caatinga Grass
11 – Forest Plantation
12 – Cropland
13 – Pastureland
14 – Urban Areas
15 – Non-Vegetated
16 – Water