SCANFI Version 2 – README

Dataset citation
  Guindon L., Correia D.L.P, Manka F. and Smiley B. 2026. SCANFI v2: Spatialized CAnadian National Forest Inventory data product v2. Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Laurentian Forestry Centre, Quebec, Canada. https://doi.org/10.23687/07653869-f303-46c2-a04e-9ab479b73cbf

Data projection
  - proj4
    +proj=lcc +lat_0=0 +lon_0=-95 +lat_1=49 +lat_2=77 +x_0=0 +y_0=0 +datum=NAD83 +units=m +no_defs
  - OGC WKT2:2018
    PROJCRS["NAD_1983_Canada_Lambert",BASEGEOGCRS["NAD83",DATUM["North American Datum 1983",ELLIPSOID["GRS 1980",6378137,298.257222101004,LENGTHUNIT["metre",1]]],PRIMEM["Greenwich",0,ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433]],ID["EPSG",4269]],CONVERSION["Lambert Conic Conformal (2SP)",METHOD["Lambert Conic Conformal (2SP)",ID["EPSG",9802]],PARAMETER["Latitude of false origin",0,ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433],ID["EPSG",8821]],PARAMETER["Longitude of false origin",-95,ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433],ID["EPSG",8822]],PARAMETER["Latitude of 1st standard parallel",49,ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433],ID["EPSG",8823]],PARAMETER["Latitude of 2nd standard parallel",77,ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433],ID["EPSG",8824]],PARAMETER["Easting at false origin",0,LENGTHUNIT["metre",1],ID["EPSG",8826]],PARAMETER["Northing at false origin",0,LENGTHUNIT["metre",1],ID["EPSG",8827]]],CS[Cartesian,2],AXIS["easting",east,ORDER[1],LENGTHUNIT["metre",1,ID["EPSG",9001]]],AXIS["northing",north,ORDER[2],LENGTHUNIT["metre",1,ID["EPSG",9001]]]]

Overview
  SCANFI Version 2 (Spatially Continuous Attributes for the National Forest Inventory) is an updated, spatially explicit national forest attribute product for Canada. It provides wall-to-wall maps of forest structure, composition, biomass, and age, derived from Landsat time series, National Forest Inventory (NFI) data, and auxiliary environmental layers.

  Compared to SCANFI v1, SCANFI v2 introduces substantial improvements in input data, modeling methodology, and predictive performance, and delivers a harmonized national time series from 1985 to 2025.

File Description
  - All files are GeoTIFF rasters at 30 m resolution.
  - XXXX stands for the corresponding year

  Forest Structural Attributes
    File name                                           Description
    SCANFI_att_biomass_XXXX_v2_20260119.tif             Aboveground biomass (ton/ha)
    SCANFI_att_closure_XXXX_v2_20260119.tif             Total crown closure (%)
    SCANFI_att_height_XXXX_v2_20260119.tif              Forest height (m)
    SCANFI_att_nfiLandcover_XXXX_v2_20260119.tif        NFI-compatible land cover classification


  Tree Species Crown Closure Layers
    - In SCANFI v2, tree species layers represent the actual crown closure (%) for each species, rather than the proportion of total crown closure as in SCANFI v1. Users therefore no longer need to multiply total crown closure by species proportions to obtain species-level crown closure.
      Examples:
        - A pixel with 30% total crown closure split evenly between black spruce and jack pine has 15% black spruce and 15% jack pine crown closure.
        - A pixel with 40% crown closure entirely composed of balsam fir has 40% balsam fir crown closure.    
        - A pixel with 100% crown closure composed of 60% black spruce and 40% balsam fir has 60% black spruce and 40% balsam fir crown closure.

    - Species-level aboveground biomass can still be approximated by scaling pixel-level biomass by the relative species crown closure.

    File name                                           Description
    SCANFI_spsCC_balsamFir_XXXX_v2_20260119.tif         Balsam fir crown closure
    SCANFI_spsCC_blackSpruce_XXXX_v2_20260119.tif       Black spruce crown closure
    SCANFI_spsCC_broadleaf_XXXX_v2_20260119.tif         Broadleaf species crown closure
    SCANFI_spsCC_douglasFir_XXXX_v2_20260119.tif        Douglas-fir crown closure
    SCANFI_spsCC_jackPine_XXXX_v2_20260119.tif          Jack pine crown closure
    SCANFI_spsCC_lodgepolePine_XXXX_v2_20260119.tif     Lodgepole pine crown closure
    SCANFI_spsCC_otherConiferous_XXXX_v2_20260119.tif   Other coniferous species crown closure
    SCANFI_spsCC_ponderosaPine_XXXX_v2_20260119.tif     Ponderosa pine crown closure
    SCANFI_spsCC_tamarack_XXXX_v2_20260119.tif          Tamarack crown closure
    SCANFI_spsCC_whiteRedPine_XXXX_v2_20260119.tif      White and red pine crown closure

  Forest Age
    - Forest age is derived by combining disturbance history (harvest and fire) with NFI-based age estimates for undisturbed stands.
    
    File name                                           Description
    SCANFI_age_median_XXXX_v2_20260119.tif              Forest stand age (years)
 
  Northern extrapolation mask
    - Integer mask describing mapping approach. 0 identifies areas mapped with the main tiling approach. 1 and 2 identifies areas in northern Québec (1) and northern western Canada (2) mapped using a single training set.

    File name                    
    SCANFI_north_extrapol_area.tif  


Important Notes for Users
  - Tree species layers now directly represent species crown closure; users no longer need to multiply by total crown closure as in SCANFI v1.
  - Species-level biomass can still be approximated by scaling pixel-level biomass by species crown closure proportions.
  - SCANFI v2 is optimized for regional to national-scale analyses, not local plot-level validation or fine temporal trend detection.
  - Areas in northern Canada extrapolated beyond NFI sampling are explicitly defined in SCANFI_north_extrapol_area.tif.