This project involves the role of the LCLUC Program Scientist, Dr. Christopher Justice, who provides strategic support for the NASA Land-Cover and Land-Use Change (LCLUC) program. The LCLUC Program is an interdisciplinary scientific theme within NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. The goal of NASA's Science Mission Directorate is to study the Earth as an integrated system, emphasizing observations made from the unique perspective of space, together with the associated laboratory, field, theoretical, and modeling research. With a strong emphasis on the use of satellite remote sensing, the LCLUC Program combines physical and social science to study land cover and land use change.

The LCLUC Program seeks to understand how the patterns of land use and land cover have changed and how they will change in the future and the implications of these changes; for example on biogeochemical and hydrological cycles, human livelihood and resource management.The LCLUC program is currently contributing to the ESE Carbon and Water Cycle, Climate Variability Focus Areas. The LCLUC program also has potentially strong connections with the ESE Applications Program. The NASA LCLUC program is a direct contributor to the USGCRP Land Use Land Cover Change research element. The LCLUC Program also contributes to the International GOFC-GOLD Program, the GEOSS and various international and regional programs concerned with land cover related research and applications e.g. the Global Land Project, MAIRS, NEESPI, CARPE.  

This project has four components that are responsive to the current needs of the LCLUC Program and have been developed in consultation with the LCLUC Program Manager:

1. NASA LCLUC Program Scientist Support

2. Global Observation of Forest and Land Cover Dynamics (GOFC-GOLD) Fire Project Office

3. Malindi Landsat-5 Station in the framework of the Global Land Survey  2010

4. Pathfinding for a semi-automated global, Landsat -scale Land Cover Product in building on the NASA WELD Measures program.