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Full EAV table

 

This is the table for Land Use and Productivity EAVs. For information on Agronomic Management EAVs, please see this page.

 

A note on Uncertainty, Error, and Validation: With few exceptions (e.g. Yield Estimation, a few borrowed ECVs), we are not prescribing maximum allowable uncertainty or error. We are, however, requiring that all EAVs when generated as products undertake error or uncertainty estimation, and document and publish that analysis along with the products themselves. As Earth observation data for agriculture becomes more commonly implemented, error tolerance will become clearer, and at that point, the EAV Working Group may choose to update uncertainty requirements.

 

Definition Agricultural Land Includes or is Indicated by GEOGLAM Agriculture Indicator Category Application or Policy Supported Frequency of Update Spatial Unit EAV Stewards
Seasonal Dynamics of Surface Water Availability

Areas covered by inland water providing a maximum and minimum extent of water surface as well as the seasonal dynamics
Binary map / water / non water
Frequency
(See CGLS waterbodies)
 

All land (product is available over all land)

Productivity

Livestock, flood detection, SDG 6, 
The area of water bodies is identified as an Essential Climate Variable (ECV) by the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS)
 

Daily (ideal); 10 days (feasible)

30m

Sven Gilliams
Reference Evapotranspiration

ETo from the reference surface. The reference surface is a hypothetical grass reference crop with an assumed crop height of 0.12 m, a fixed surface resistance of 70 s m-1 and an albedo of 0.23. (FAO).

Agriculture Mask

Land Use, Productivity

SDG 6.4, drought, climate adaptation, water & irrigation management

Daily - monthly, within each season
 

Field - Watershed

Benjamin Koetz, Bimal Bhattacharya, Jippe Hoogeveen
Reference Crop Calendars

Identification of the typical or usual planting and harvesting dates or windows per crop per region. 
 

For Global Analyses, the target is the same crops covered by the GEOGLAM Crop Monitor for AMIS and Crop Monitor for Early Warning.

For National Analyses, the target is each nationally relevant crop type, accounting for ~80% of total area under production.
 

Land Use, Productivity

Production Outlooks; Crop status anomaly detection, both spatial and temporal; Crop growth simulation modelling; Identifying agriculture practices; UNFCCC; GHG emission monitoring; Disaster risk assessment
 

Every 5 years unless major events have driven a change in practices or crop utilization in an area.

As stand-alone output, subnational admin unit.

Rasterized for inputs to analysis (for colocation with other data).

Alyssa Whitcraft, Andrew Nelson, Sven Gilliams
Non-Perennial Cover Crop Utilization Mask

A binary map that indicates agricultural land which has a permanent, seasonal, or winter cover crop applied and established (vegetation emerged). Cover crops are defined as non-harvestable crops applied to otherwise active (non-fallow) agricultural lands as a management technique to reduce nutrient loss and soil erosion, to promote soil organic matter accumulation and health, and to preserve soil moisture. Cover crops are applied after a target crop has been harvested, or at the same time as the harvestable target crop (permanent cover crop).

Non-Perennial Cropland Mask and Perennial Cropland Mask
 

Land Use

Sustainable and Regenerative Agriculture; Climate Adaptation, Climate Mitigation, Carbon and Ecosystem Services Markets, 4perMil

Annual

Field Scale

Managed Grasslands Mask

A binary map of land seasonally or annually sown with grasses or herbaceous forage for grazing and/or mowing. If there is no sowing or harvesting for more than one year, then the lands are considered rangelands.
 

Managed grasslands

Land Use

Policy areas supported include: Land cover/use state & change; SDG 2; UNFCCC

  1. Greenhouse gas reporting
  2. Farm support programs
  3. Information for commodity markets
  4. Early warning for food security
  5. Changes in the agricultural landscape
  6. Land degradation

Seasonally updated. Updates occur at the end of the major growing season, so that changes can be detected over multiple growing seasons)

Field Scale

Juan Pablo Guerschman, Sven Gilliams
Leaf Area Index

One half of the total green leaf area per unit horizontal ground surface area. (WMO/GCOS & Copernicus Land Services)

Agriculture Mask

Productivity

Carbon Modelling Yield

Twice weekly or better

Field mapping at 10m

Andrew M. Davidson, Heather McNairn
Irrigated Cropland Map

A binary determination of where managed water was applied to aid in the growth of perennial and non-perennial crops as well as managed grasslands.

Perennial and Non-Perennial Croplands, managed grasslands

Land Use

SDG 6.4, drought, climate adaptation, irrigation management

Generated per cropping cycle for non-perennial crops, or per year in the case of perennial crop types

Field to county or equivalent admin scale (as percentage)

Jippe Hoogeveen
Degree Growing Days

Growing degree days for a given crop are calculated each day, as the average of the daily maximum and minimum temperatures, minus a certain base temperature, where this base temperature represents the threshold under which that crop will not grow. "Growing degree days" are a heuristic tool that measures heat accumulation for crops from sowing through harvest, with phenological transitions occurring after a certain accumulation of growing degree days.

Non-Perennial Cropland Mask, with priority given to crops (as determined by Non-Perennial Crop Type Map) for whom GDD are a known correlate with phenological development.
 

Productivity

Tracking phenological development, linking to the drought

Daily

0.10 degree or finer

Belen Franch, Jinlong Fan
Fractional Cover

Fractions (of an area or the pixel) of photosynthetic (green) vegetation and non-photosynthetic (dry, litter) vegetation and the remaining fraction of bare soil, including stones and rock.

Agriculture Mask

Land Use, Productivity

Early warning for food security; Changes in the agricultural landscape; Land degradation

20m - 500m

Juan Pablo Guerschman
Field Boundaries

Field boundaries are the geometric borders of agricultural fields. A field in this case is an area of land, enclosed or otherwise, used for agricultural purposes such as cultivating crops.

Cropland Mask

Land Use

Area estimation; land use change; evaluation of management practices

Seasonally

Field Scale

Sven Gilliams
fAPAR

Fraction of photosynthetically active radiation (ie the radiation in the spectral range of 400 to 700 nm) absorbed by vegetation (GCOS)

Agriculture Mask

Productivity

Carbon Accounting, Food security, Markets, Productivity

Daily (field)
(Instantaneous observations must be representative of daily integrated values)
 

Field mapping at 10m

Catherine Champagne
Current Crop Stage

Spatially explicit identification of the stage of growth in which a crop is during the current cropping cycle.

For Global Analyses, the target is the same crops covered by the GEOGLAM Crop Monitor for AMIS and Crop Monitor for Early Warning.

For National Analyses, the target is each nationally relevant crop type, accounting for ~80% of total area under production.
 

Land Use, Productivity

Production Outlooks; Crop status anomaly detection, both spatial and temporal; Crop growth simulation modelling; Identifying agriculture practices; UNFCCC; GHG emission monitoring; Disaster risk assessment
 

Bi-weekly throughout the year

As stand-alone output: subnational admin unit

Can be rasterized for use as an input for analysis (for colocation with other data)
 

Alyssa Whitcraft, Andrew Nelson, Sven Gilliams
Crop Rotation Sequence

An expression of crop sequences over multiple cropping cycles and years.

Perennial and Non-perennial Croplands

Land Use

SDG 2.4.1; SDG 15.3; Carbon accounting; Policy compliance programs; crop insurance; Ag LCLUC;

5 years; more frequent in hotspots of change

Field or, where relevant, region

Andrew M. Davidson
Crop Residue Cover Percentage

On a cultivable and cultivated cropland, the percentage of soil covered by non-photosynthetically active vegetation that remains on a field after the harvest of a cash crop or the termination of a seasonal cover crop.

 

Perennial and non-perennial cropland masks

Land Use

Areas supported include UNFCCC (GHG inventories and NDCs), Land Degradation Neutrality (sediment/nutrient runoff and water quality), quantification of ecosystem services (commodity and direct markets), and insurance/risk.

Monthly monitored alongside harvestable crop’s calendar and land management calendar

Field Scale

Alyssa Whitcraft, Andrew M. Davidson
Actual Evapotranspiration

ETa estimates the actual water evaporated from the soil and transpired by the vegetation at all stages of crop development and all levels of crop stress. (FAO 1998)
 

Each nationally relevant crop type, accounting for ~80% of total area under production, all irrigated crops or water managed crops

Productivity

SDG 6.4, drought, climate adaptation, irrigation management

Daily - monthly, within each season

Field / administrative unit

Benjamin Koetz, Bimal Bhattacharya, Jippe Hoogeveen
Above Ground Agricultural Biomass

The mass of live and/or dead organic matter in terrestrial vegetation (excluding roots, litter and dead wood), expressed as a mass or mass per unit area (GCOS).

Agriculture Mask

Productivity

Carbon Modelling
Ecosystem Management
Yield
SDG 2 and SDG 15
 

Twice weekly or better

Field mapping at 10m

Andrew M. Davidson, Heather McNairn
Surface Soil Moisture

Relative water content of the top few centimeters soil, describing how wet or dry the soil is in its topmost layer, expressed in percent water content

All agricultural land

 

Productivity

Early Warning
Farm Support Programs (Drought, Trafficability, Lodging)
Water Management
SDG 6.4
 

1-3 days over non-frozen soils

Field Scale

Catherine Champagne
Root Zone Soil Moisture

Relative water content available to plants, depth depends on landscape/soil but usually ranges 20-200 cm, expressed in percent water content

All agricultural land

Productivity

Early Warning Farm Support Programs (Risk)
Water Management
SDG 6.4
 

1-5 days

Field Scale

Catherine Champagne
Precipitation

Integration of solid and liquid precipitation rate reaching the ground over several time intervals. The reference requirement refers to integration over 24h. (https://gcos.wmo.int/en/essential-climate-variables/precipitation/ecv-requirements)

All agriculture, rangelands, pastures; especially rainfed agriculture, but is important for determining water resources for irrigated areas.

Productivity

SDG 2, SDG6, Agrometeorological Variables, Irrigation/Water, Rangeland monitoring, Livestock, SDG Indicator 15.3.1

Daily, near real time

Currently coarse-level raster, much finer (1km) desired

Greg Husak
Land Surface Temperature

The Land Surface Temperature (LST) is aggregated radiometric surface temperature of the ensemble of components within the sensor field of view.

 

Cropland

Productivity

SDG 6.4 & 2, heat stress, (night) frost damage, monitoring of growing days, climate adaptation, water & irrigation management

Daily Min/max/average LST (including nighttime), within each season

Field to landscape level

Benjamin Koetz, Shumilo, Leonid
Air Temperature

Air temperature at a known height above surface (2 m or less)

All agricultural land

Productivity

Early Warning
Farm Support Programs
Food Security
Market Support
Risk Assessment (Frost, Drought)
SDG 2, 13 & 15
Crop Disease Monitoring
 

Hourly

Landscape

Ian Jarvis
Water Productivity

Crop production per unit of water consumed through ET expressed through kg per cubic meter, calculated per crop type.

Each nationally relevant crop type, accounting for ~80% of total area under production, All irrigated crops or water managed crops.

Productivity

SDG 6.4; drought monitoring; UNFCCC; UNCCD; climate adaptation; groundwater depletion pollution;Irrigation modernization; Watershed management (Agricultural water foot-printing and agricultural water trading; water allocation; water rights implementation; water saving)

Weekly to monthly, within each cropping cycle

Field, watershed, and sub-national admin units

Benjamin Koetz, Jippe Hoogeveen
Seasonal Fallow Mask

A binary determination of cultivable cropland that is not seeded (for harvestable crop or seasonal cover crop) for at least one or more cropping cycle(s) in a year. If left uncultivated for more than 1 cultivable cycle, it is eliminated from the Agriculture Mask.

 

Agriculture Mask

Land Use

Policy areas supported include:

  1. Farm support programs
  2. Changes in the agricultural landscape
  3. Land degradation / soil restoration
  4. Eco-system services and biodiversity
  5. Climate Change (LULUCF sector)
  6. SDG 15.3, 2.4
     

Seasonally monitored as input to an annual product update

Field Scale

Alyssa Whitcraft, Bettina Baruth, Ian Jarvis, Sven Gilliams
Rangelands Mask

A binary determination of rangelands, which are defined as where wild and domestic animals graze or browse on uncultivated vegetation, being dominated by grasses or shrubs, where tree cover does not exceed 50%.

Rangelands Mask

Land Use

Early warning for food security; Changes in the agricultural landscape; Land degradation; SDG 2 & 15

Annual

Field Scale

Juan Pablo Guerschman
Rangeland Condition Assessment

Qualitative indicator of rangeland vegetation status relative to short-term reference or potential status* (*definition must be declared)

Rangelands Mask

Productivity

Early warning for food security; Changes in the agricultural landscape; Land degradation; SDG 2 & 15

 

Seasonal or monthly

Field Scale

Juan Pablo Guerschman
Perennial Cropland Mask

A binary map of land to produce food, fiber, and fuel, where crops are harvestable multiple times without resowing. This includes perennial oil seeds, legumes, forages (multi year managed grasslands) and tree crops. The map must refer to a given reference period (typically a growing season corresponding to the target crops).

For all perennial crops, excluding lands indicated by Managed Grasslands EAV. The map shall follow a common hierarchical typology with common aggregation levels, as proposed by JECAM. Distinction between rainfed and irrigated should be made where possible.

Land Use

Policy areas supported include: Land cover/use state & change; SDG 2; UNFCCC

  1. Greenhouse gas reporting
  2. Farm support programs
  3. Information for commodity markets
  4. Early warning for food security
  5. Changes in the agricultural landscape
  6. Land degradation
     

Annual updates, taking into account growing seasons. Updates occurs at the end of the major growing season, so that changes can be detected over multiple growing seasons)

Field Scale

Bettina Baruth, Ian Jarvis, Miao Zhang
Non-Perennial Cropland Mask

A binary map of land to produce food, fiber, and fuel, where at least one crop is sowed/planted and fully harvestable typically within the 12 months after the sowing/planting date (with exceptions made for longer fully harvestable crops like sugarcane and sorghum). The map must refer to a given reference period (typically a growing season corresponding to the target crops).

For all non-perennial (aka “annual crops”, which are sowed and harvested after 1 growing season), excluding lands indicated by Managed Grasslands and Seasonal Fallow EAVs. The map shall follow a common hierarchical typology with common aggregation levels, as proposed by JECAM. Distinction between rainfed and irrigated should be made where possible.

Land Use

Policy areas supported include: Land cover/use state & change; SDG 2; UNFCCC

  1. Greenhouse gas reporting
  2. Farm support programs
  3. Information for commodity markets
  4. Early warning for food security
  5. Changes in the agricultural landscape
  6. Land degradation
     

Seasonal updates taking into account major growing seasons per agro-ecological zones (e.g. winter crops, spring, summer, short rainy season, long rainy season, etc.)

Field Scale

Bettina Baruth, Ian Jarvis, Miao Zhang
Managed Grasslands Mask

A binary map of land seasonally or annually sown with grasses or herbaceous forage for grazing and/or mowing. If there is no sowing or harvesting for more than one year, then the lands are considered rangelands.

Managed Grasslands

Land Use

Policy areas supported include: Land cover/use state & change; SDG 2; UNFCCC

  1. Greenhouse gas reporting
  2. Farm support programs
  3. Information for commodity markets
  4. Early warning for food security
  5. Changes in the agricultural landscape
  6. Land degradation
     

Annual updates, taking into account growing seasons. Updates occur at the end of the major growing season, so that changes can be detected over multiple growing seasons)

Field Scale

Juan Pablo Guerschman, Sven Gilliams
Crop Yield Forecast

Within season, pre-harvest forecast of harvestable weight* of commodity per unit area* (*definitions must be declared

Each nationally relevant crop group or crop type, as appropriate, accounting for ~80% of total area under production.

Productivity

Markets & trade, (re)insurance, humanitarian, Industry

Weekly to monthly, within each cropping cycle

Within-field, Field; subnational admin units; National

Belen Franch, Bettina Baruth, Inbal Becker-Reshef
Crop Yield Estimation

End of season harvestable weight* of commodity per unit area* (*definitions must be declared)

Each nationally relevant crop type, accounting for ~80% of total area under production

Productivity

Policy & Yield Gap Assessments; Changes through time; SDG 2 and 15; UNFCCC; UNCCD; evaluating and guiding policy interventions; statistics; markets & trade; insurance; humanitarian

Once per season as close as possible to harvest time

Field; subnational admin units; National

Belen Franch, Inbal Becker-Reshef
Crop Type Area Estimate

A quantitative determination of the horizontal projection of the area under identified crop types.

Estimates can be created for non-perennial and perennial crop types, as well as managed grasslands and mosaics (defined as mixed cropping including agroforestry mosaics), where the type is declared. GEOGLAM prioritizes that crop type area estimates should be created for the crops that account for at least 80% of total area under production.

Land Use

Land cover/use state & change; agricultural production and trade; agricultural statistics; humanitarian

Seasonally, ideally 1-2 months before the crop’s harvest, and no later than one month after the crop’s harvest

Field Scale

Alyssa Whitcraft, Andrew M. Davidson, Bettina Baruth, Pierre Defourny, Sophie Bontemps, Sven Gilliams
Cropland Mask

A binary map of land devoted to agriculture for the cultivation of perennial crops, non-perennial crops, and managed grasslands. It does not include lands indicated by Rangelands or Seasonal Fallow masks.

Non-Perennial Cropland Mask and Perennial Cropland Mask

Land Use

Policy areas supported include: Land cover/use state & change; SDG 2; UNFCCC

  1. Greenhouse gas reporting
  2. Farm support programs
  3. Information for commodity markets
  4. Early warning for food security
  5. Changes in the agricultural landscape
  6. Land degradation
     

Annual Update

Standard products at 1 Ha resolution, based on generalization of mapping categories generated at lower levels of the hierarchy developed at higher or similar resolutions

Bettina Baruth, Ian Jarvis, Juan Pablo Guerschman, Miao Zhang
Crop Type Masks

A spatially-explicit determination of identified types of non-perennial crops, types of perennial crops, managed grasslands, and/or of mixed-crop mosaics, as identified within the Cropland Mask. Types can be grouped into categories and/or hierarchies (for example, aggregation levels following JECAM description). Where categorical or hierarchical classification systems are in use, product should include documentation and definitions.

Includes non-perennial and perennial crop types, as well as managed grasslands and mosaics (defined as mixed cropping including agroforestry mosaics), where the type is declared. The map shall follow a common hierarchical typology with common aggregation levels, as proposed by JECAM.  GEOGLAM prioritizes that crop type masks should be created for the crops that account for at least 80% of total area under production.

Land Use

Policy areas supported include: Land cover/use state & change; SDG 2; UNFCCC

  1. Greenhouse gas reporting
  2. Farm support programs
  3. Information for commodity markets
  4. Early warning for food security
  5. Changes in the agricultural landscape
  6. Land degradation
     

Per growing season for non-perennial crops; annual for managed grasslands and perennial crops. Mosaics either per growing season and annual, as appropriate for mosaic constituents.

Field Scale

Alyssa Whitcraft, Hongwei Zeng, Ian Jarvis, Mykola Lavreniuk, Pierre Defourny, Sophie Bontemps, Sven Gilliams
Incoming Radiation

Incoming radiation represents the amount of energy radiating from the sun to the land surface, including direct radiation and diffuse radiation.

Agricultural Mask

Productivity

Food security and market phenology, yield

Daily

Landscape

Belen Franch, Jinlong Fan
Relative Humidity

Relative humidity is the ratio of the amount of atmospheric moisture present relative to the amount that would be present if the air were saturated with respect to water or ice to be specified in the metadata (%).

Agricultural Mask

Productivity

Food security, yield, pest, and crop disease

Hourly

Landscape

Jinlong Fan
Wind Speed

Speed of air at a known height above the surface which is to be specified in the metadata (m/s). Direction from which wind is blowing at a known height above the surface which is to be specified in the metadata (degree true).

Agricultural Mask

Productivity

SDG, Crop production, Crop monitoring, food security, water balance, evapotranspiration, lodging and crop damage

3 Hours

Landscape, 10km

Jinlong Fan
Crop Condition Assessment

Qualitative indicator of crop health status relative to short-term reference* (*definition must be declared)

Each nationally relevant crop type, accounting for ~80% of total area under production

Productivity

Markets & trade, insurance, humanitarian, pest and disease impact monitoring

Weekly to monthly, within each cropping cycle

Field and sub-national admin units

 

Ian Jarvis, Inbal Becker-Reshef, Felix Rembold, Shumilo, Leonid, Mario Zappacosta, Miao Zhang, Rogerio Bonifacio
Agriculture Mask

A binary map of land devoted to agriculture, defined as the systematic and controlled use of land and livestock to produce food, fiber, and fuel. This includes croplands (as defined in the Cropland Mask), rangelands (as defined in the Rangeland Mask), and seasonally fallow lands (as defined by the Seasonal Fallow Mask).

Cropland Mask, Rangeland Mask, and Seasonal Fallow Mask

Land Use

Policy areas supported include: Land cover/use state & change; SDG 2; UNFCCC

  1. Greenhouse gas reporting
  2. Farm support programs
  3. Information for commodity markets
  4. Early warning for food security
  5. Changes in the agricultural landscape
  6. Land degradation

Annual update

Standard products at 1 Ha resolution, based on generalization of mapping categories generated at lower levels of the hierarchy developed at higher or similar resolutions

Ian Jarvis, Juan Pablo Guerschman, Bettina Baruth