Developing vegetation and land surface parameters using classification approaches

A number of climatic, bioclimatic, vegetation, eco-region and landcover classification systems have been applied to regional and global mapping based on multitemporal 1-km resolution Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer-Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (AVHRR-NDVI) data, and are being tested for application with Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data. We have previously developed and implemented a multivariable training site model from which several classification strategies have been applied using multitemporal AVHRR-NDVI data at l-km resolution. We compare the attribution of land surface biogeophysical parameters to the resulting regional maps and pre-existing mapped classifications, and explore the relationship of the classification systems to specific parameters. This research is undertaken to develop methods to generate land surface parameters globally from EOS-MODIS land cover data and to support global and regional models