Land

Important land variables include soil moisture, vegetation coverage, surface radiation budgets and more. Overview pages summarize and compare selected datasets of a given variable.

To find a specific dataset or variable, jump to the search box below or click your desired variable from among the blue sub-category buttons.

To see only the datasets accompanied by expert commentaries, select the "Datasets with guidance" button when using the search box.

Climate datasets

Has expert guidance
Historical land-cover changes and land-use conversions global data set by Meiyappan and Jain Historical land-cover changes and land-use conversions global data set by Meiyappan and Jain

  • Years of record

  • to

A set of three estimates of land-cover types and annual transformations of land use are provided on a global 0.5°x0.5° grid at annual timesteps. The longest of…

Main variables and Earth System components

Land Land Cover Type Land Use Conversion Vegetation Cover

    • Timestep

    • Annual

    • Collections

    • N/A
graph Simulation performance of 19 Earth system models (credit: Justin Makin and Corey Lesk) Making sense of data from Land Surface Models (LSMs)

  • Years of record

  • N/A

The land surface is a dynamic and complex component of the Earth system, shaping climate and biogeochemical cycles and serving as the origin of many…

Main variables and Earth System components

Biosphere Land

    • Formats

    • N/A

    • Timestep

    • N/A

    • Domain

    • N/A

    • Collections

    • N/A
Carbon Emissions from Historical Land-Use and Land-Use Change Carbon Emissions from Historical Land-Use and Land-Use Change

  • Years of record

  • to

Annual net land-atmosphere carbon flux and net flux of carbon to the atmosphere due to land-use and land-use change (LULUC) are estimated using an integrated…

Main variables and Earth System components

Biosphere CO2 Land CO2 Land-Atmosphere flux Land Cover Type Land Use Conversion

    • Timestep

    • Annual

    • Collections

    • N/A
The monthly averaged downscaled 1 km and 9 km SMAP SM of descending overpass (6 a.m.) from 2020 in Danube River basin. (contributed by Bin Fang and Venkat Lakshmi) SMAP-Derived 1-km Downscaled Surface Soil Moisture

  • Years of record

  • to

This data product contains global daily 1 km resolution surface soil moisture (SM) derived from the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) L-band radiometer…

Main variables and Earth System components

Land Soil Moisture

    • Formats

    • N/A

    • Timestep

    • Daily

    • Collections

    • N/A
Soil Moisture Data Sets: Overview & Comparison Tables Soil Moisture Data Sets: Overview & Comparison Tables

  • Years of record

  • N/A

Soil moisture is a state variable of the land that crosses the interfaces of several disciplines, including meteorology, hydrology, climatology and ecology. Soil…

Main variables and Earth System components

Land Soil Moisture
LANDSAT LANDSAT

  • Years of record

  • to

"The Landsat Program provides the longest continuous space-based record of Earth’s land in existence. Since 1972, Landsat satellites have collected measurements…

Main variables and Earth System components

Biosphere NPP: Net Primary Production Land Land Cover Type Vegetation Cover

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
CERES: IGBP Land Classification CERES: IGBP Land Classification

  • Years of record

  • N/A

The International Geosphere–Biosphere Programme (IGBP) defines ecosystems surface classifications. The CERES (Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System)10-minute…

Main variables and Earth System components

Land Land Cover Type Vegetation Cover

  • Experts contributing reviews

  • N/A
A team on a boat coring lakes in the Arctic (credit: Laura Larocca) An overview of paleoclimate information from high-resolution lake sediment records: Strengths, limitations and key databases

  • Years of record

  • N/A

Accumulated sediments at the bottom of lakes are invaluable archives of past climate and environmental change. These sediments contain a variety of physical,…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature Precipitation Biosphere Pollen Land
U.S. Climate Extremes Index (CEI) U.S. Climate Extremes Index (CEI)

  • Years of record

  • to

The U.S. Climate Extremes Index (CEI) was first presented in 1995 as a framework for quantifying observed changes in climate within the contiguous United States…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Air Temperature Maximum Air Temperature Minimum Air Temperature Precipitation Wind Land Drought
maps of SIF and GPP (contributed by Jingfeng Xiao and Xing Li) Global dataset of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (GOSIF)

  • Years of record

  • to

GOSIF is a global, gridded dataset of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF). SIF, an energy flux re-emitted by plants a few nanoseconds after light…

Main variables and Earth System components

Biosphere GPP: Gross Primary Production solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) Land Gross Primary Production

    • Formats

    • N/A

    • Timestep

    • Monthly, Weekly

    • Collections

    • N/A