Vegetation map of Trail Valley Creek from airborne orthophotos, laser scanning and field work data, Northwest Territories (CA)

The vegetation map distinguishes between five tundra vegetation types, trees, and open water at the forest-tundra transition north of Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada. The area is underlain by continuous permafrost. Vegetation types were distinguished based on vegetation height derived from airborne laserscanning, airborne orthophotos and observations from the field site. A detailed description of the data sources and processing steps is included.

The vegetation map covers the Trail Valley Creek study site east of the Mackenzie Delta and 45 km north of Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada (rectangle of 106 km2 between 133.8116 and 133.4137 ◦E and 68.6515 and 68.7840 ◦N). A detailed description of the study area can be found in Marsh et al. (2008, 2010). We classified the vegetation into six types (tree, tall shrub, riparian shrub, dwarf shrub, tussock, and lichen tundra) and included water surfaces in the classification.