Dataset
ESA Land Cover Climate Change Initiative (Land_Cover_cci): Global Plant Functional Types (PFT) Dataset, v2.0.82
Abstract
This dataset provides yearly global Plant Functional Type (PFT) fractional-cover maps for 1992–2025 (34 years), superseding v2.0.81 (1992–2020). It is derived by combining auxiliary high-resolution (~30 m) datasets with the ESA CCI Medium Resolution Land Cover (MRLC) map series of the same years, adding within-class spatial variability by quantifying PFT fractional composition at each 300 m pixel globally, while remaining consistent with the source Land_Cover_cci class legends.
Version 2.0.82 introduces the following changes relative to v2.0.81:
• Rebalanced shrub and natural-grass fractions.
A comparison between PFT v2.0.81 of Harper et al. (2023) and the PFT derived from the CWT of Poulter et al. (2015) identified a global underestimation of shrub cover and a corresponding overestimation of grassland extent in v2.0.81. Both PFTs were rebalanced across the full time series. The correction is most pronounced in Australia, where shrubland replaces grassland in areas where it better reflects actual land cover.
• Explicit C3/C4 grassland partitioning.
Natural and managed grasslands, previously delivered as single undifferentiated layers, are now each split into C3 and C4 photosynthetic-pathway fractions (percentage of the 300 m pixel), allowing mixed C3/C4 pixel compositions. This is relevant for productivity and carbon-flux applications.
• Refined broadleaved evergreen (BE) tree fraction.
BE trees were previously underestimated outside the pantropical domain, notably in the Mediterranean (e.g., *Quercus ilex*) and other Northern Hemisphere areas; tree type/seasonality assignments were revised accordingly. Applied consistently across the full 1992–2025 series.
• Temporal extension.
Coverage extended by 5 years, from 2020 to 2025, following the extension of the Land Cover map series under the Copernicus Climate Change Service contract.
The explicit LAND, WATER_INLAND and WATER_OCEAN layers continue to complement the single WATER layer.
As a result, the dataset now comprises 19 layers (up from 14 in v2.0.81), each representing percentage cover (0–100%) of a PFT at 300 m spatial resolution.
Details
| Previous Info: |
No news update for this record
|
|---|---|
| Previously used record identifiers: |
No related previous identifiers.
|
| Access rules: |
Please contact the data centre for details on how to access these data.
For data use licensing information please contact: support@ceda.ac.uk |
| Data lineage: |
Data were processed by the ESA CCI Medium Resolution Land Cover project and catalogued here as part of the CCI Open Data Portal Project |
| Data Quality: |
For more information on the data quality see the documentation from the ESA Land Cover project
|
| File Format: |
Not defined
|
Related Documents
Process overview
| Title | Derivation of the ESA Land Cover Climate Change Initiative (Land_Cover_cci): Global Plant Function Types (PFT) Dataset, v2.0.82 |
| Abstract | The methodology used to derive the v2.0.82 Pland Functional Type (PFT) data is unchanged in principle from v2.0.81. The PFT distributions were derived by combining auxiliary datasets with the ESA MRLC map series; see Harper et al. (2022, ESSD) for the base methodology. v2.0.82 refines the shrub/grass balance, adds explicit C3/C4 partitioning, and refines BE tree assignment (see Abstract). It has been reviewed in collaboration with LSCE and is intended to support ORCHIDEE and contribute to CMIP7 vegetation-climate feedback analyses. |
| Input Description | None |
| Output Description | None |
| Software Reference | None |
No variables found.
Temporal Range
1992-01-01T00:00:00
2025-12-31T23:59:59
Geographic Extent
90.0000° |
||
-180.0000° |
180.0000° |
|
-90.0000° |