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The Global Land Cover Characterization Project was established to meet science data requirements identified by the International Geosphere and Biosphere Programme (IGBP), and the U. S. Global Change Research Program. The overall goal is to produce flexible large-area land cover databases to meet evolving requirements of the earth science research community.

The project was implemented by the United States Geological Survey/EROS Data Center (EDC), the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), and the Joint Research (JRC) of European Commission. This effort is part of the National Aeronautic's and Space Administration (NASA) Earth Observing System Pathfinder Program.

Funding for the project was provided by the USGS, NASA, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Forest Service (USFS) , and the United Nations Environment Programme.

The data base has been adopted by the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme Data and Information System office (IGBP-DIS) to fill its requirement for a global 1-km land cover data set.

[Summary provided by the USGS.]