Results from time-series analysis of Landsat images in characterizing global forest extent and change.
The 'first' and 'last' bands are reference multispectral imagery from the first and last available years for Landsat spectral bands 3, 4, 5, and 7. Reference composite imagery represents median observations from a set of quality-assessed growing-season observations for each of these bands.
Please see the User Notes for this Version 1.4 update, as well as the associated journal article: Hansen, Potapov, Moore, Hancher et al. “High-resolution global maps of 21st-century forest cover change.” Science 342.6160 (2013): 850-853.