NOAA Coastal Change Analysis Program (CCAP) 1996-2001 Era Land Cover Change Data of the Western United States

The NOAA Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP) products are part of the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics program, a nationally standardized database of land cover and change information, for the coastal regions of the U.S. C-CAP products inventory coastal intertidal areas, wetlands, and adjacent uplands with the goal of monitoring changes in these habitats, on a one-to-five year repeat cycle.  The timeframe for the metadata is reported as 1996-Era, 2001-Era, or 2006-Era, but the actual dates of the landsat imagery used to create the land cover may have been acquired a few years before or after each era.  These maps are developed utilizing Landsat Thematic Mapper imagery, and can be used to track changes in the landscape through time. This trend information gives important feedback to managers on the success or failure of management policies and programs and aid in developing a scientific understanding of the Earth system and its response to natural and human-induced changes. This understanding allows for the prediction of impacts due to these changes and the assessment of their cumulative effects, helping coastal resource managers make more informed regional decisions. This is a parent metadata record for this region. More detailed metadata is available at the dataset level.