MCD12Q1 v006

• Version 5 used five classification schemes whereas Version 6 uses six classification schemes, including an entirely new classification scheme based on the Land Cover Classification System (LCCS) from the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).
• New gap-filled spectro-temporal features developed by applying smoothing splines to the Nadir Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF)–Adjusted Reflectance (NBAR) time series. This change results in significant changes between land cover classifications in Version 5 and Version 6 data.
• Algorithm used in Version 6 includes a post-processing Hidden Markov Model (HMM) that reduces spurious year-to-year variation in class labels.
• Algorithm refinements were implemented in upstream MODIS data used as inputs, such as the cloud mask, surface reflectance, and NBAR data products.
• The value of "Water" in the IGBP classification scheme has changed from "0" to "17."
• The data product should not be used to determine post-classification land cover change between years due to the uncertainty in the land cover labels for any one year. More information can be found on page 2 of the User Guide.
• File size is smaller due to HDF internal compression.

Validation at stage 2 has been achieved for the MODIS Land Cover products. Further details regarding MODIS land product validation for the MCD12 data products are available from the MODIS Land Team Validation site.

Quality information is provided on page 15 of the User Guide

• The "units" field is missing in the metadata, however, this information can be found in the table above or on page 5 of the User Guide.
• Known issues are described on pages 3 and 4 of the User Guide.

For complete information about known issues please refer to the MODIS/VIIRS Land Quality Assessment website.