What satellite sensors are used to create the CDL?
The CDL Program uses medium resolution satellites. CDL products prior AWiFS to 2006 relied primarily on Landsat 4/5/7. Beginning with the 2006 CDL products, the CDL program transitioned to using the senor on the IRS-P6 Resourcesat-1 satellite. Currently, it is too costly to use higher resolution satellites to perform crop acreage estimation over large areas. Beginning in 2006, the MODIS, 250 meter resolution 16-day composite Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from the NASA Terra satellite is used as an ancillary input to the CDL classification process.
The CDL Program uses medium resolution satellites. CDL products prior to 2006 relied primarily on Landsat 4/5/7. Beginning with the 2006 CDL products, the CDL program transitioned to using the senor on the IRS-P6 Resourcesat-1 satellite. Currently, it is too costly to use higher resolution satellites to perform crop acreage estimation over large areas. Beginning in 2006, the MODIS, 250 meter resolution 16-day composite Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from the NASA Terra satellite is used as an ancillary input to the CDL classification process. Additionally, the USGS policy of opening up the Landsat archive for free access in 2009 delivered the potential for the CDL to deliver in-season and national level agricultural monitoring capability.
