DEA Land Cover Level 3

Abstract Land cover is the observed physical cover on the Earth’s surface including trees, shrubs, grasses, soils, exposed rocks, water bodies, plantations, crops and built structures. A consistent, Australia-wide land cover product helps understanding of how the different parts of the environment change and inter-relate. Earth observation data recorded over a period of time firstly allows the observation of the state of land cover at a specific time and secondly the way that land cover changes by comparison between times. DEA Land Cover divides the landscape into six base land cover types, which are then further detailed through the addition of environmental descriptors. The structure is as follows: * Cultivated Terrestrial Vegetation * percentage of cover * life form (woody or herbaceous only) * Natural Terrestrial Vegetation * percentage of cover * life form (woody or herbaceous) * Natural Aquatic Vegetation * percentage of cover * life form (woody or herbaceous) * water seasonality * Artificial Surfaces * Natural Bare * percentage of bare cover * Water * water persistence * intertidal area Currency Date modified: April 2026 Modification frequency: Annually Version: 2.0.0 Data extent Coordinate reference: GDA94 / Australian Albers - EPSG:3577 Spatial extent west longitude: 112° south latitude: -44° east longitude: 154° north latitude: -10° Temporal coverage: 1988 to 2025 Source Information DEA Land Cover is based on the globally applicable Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) Land Cover Classification System (LCCS) taxonomy Version 2. DEA Land Cover classifications have been generated by combining quantitative (continuous) or qualitative (thematic) environmental information (referred to as Essential Descriptors; EDs) derived from Landsat satellite sensor data. Several EDs have been generated previously by Geoscience Australia, including [annual water summaries], [vegetation fractional cover], [mangrove extent] and the [Inter Tidal Extent Model], whilst others have been developed more recently. These EDs have been combined to generate detailed, consistent and expandable annual classifications of Australia’s land cover from 1988 through to present. For a complete description of the methods used to produce DEA Land Cover, please see the [DEA Knowledge Hub]. [Download the Raw source images] To explore Landcover Level 3 and L4 data use the [DEA Land Cover Explorer Application] Lineage statement DEA Land Cover is based on the globally applicable Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) Land Cover Classification System (LCCS) taxonomy Version 2. DEA Land Cover classifications have been generated by combining quantitative (continuous) or qualitative (thematic) environmental information (referred to as Essential Descriptors; EDs) derived from Landsat satellite sensor data. The FAO LCCS taxonomy is hierarchical and consists of a dichotomous phase (Level 1 to 3) and a modular phase (referred to as Level 4). In Level 1, vegetated and non-vegetated areas are first separated. These are then divided into terrestrial or aquatic categories to form Level 2. In the vegetated terrestrial category, cultivated and natural (including semi-natural) areas are differentiated. The non-vegetated category is further divided into artificial surfaces, and natural surfaces incorporating low vegetation cover and bare areas. Including the non-vegetated aquatic class (from Level 2), this results in the creation of six base land cover categories. At Level 4, vegetated areas are further classified using information that differentiates lifeform (woody and herbaceous) and quantifies vegetation cover percent and water seasonality (for Natural Aquatic Vegetation). Natural Surface areas have information added (bare gradation) which describes the level of remaining vegetation present (sparse, very sparse or not detectable). Non-vegetated aquatic areas (Water) are further described on the basis of their persistence (hydroperiod) over a calendar year. The FAO LCCS differentiates water in different physical states (liquid or frozen; ice or snow), however only liquid water is included in the current release. For a complete description of product lineage, please see the [DEA Knowledge Hub]. For a complete discussion of the product quality and limitations, please see the [DEA Knowledge Hub]. Data dictionary ──────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Attribute Name│Description ──────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Category │Indicates Image as Primary or Overview. ──────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ClassName │The land cover classification category the pixel is assigned to. ──────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── datetime │This date indicates the year that the annual summary layer represents. Since the layer summarises data for an entire calendar year, a date of '01/01/1988' indicates that it is a 1988 annual summary. ──────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Name │The file name of the image. ──────────────┴────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Contact Digital Earth Australia, [earth.observation@ga.gov.au]