One of the key components of numerical weather prediction and regional-scale forecast models is the interaction of the land surface with the atmosphere. Ground evaporation, soil type, vegetation type and amount are all required to accurately model these interactions.

Fractional vegetation cover is a dynamic variable which changes on a daily basis, yet to this point most models simply include a climatological value for the percent healthy vegetation cover. Remote sensing from satellites now provides enough detailed and continuous coverage of the Earth's surface to provide an indirect, NDVI-based vegetation cover product.

The mission of this WWW site is to provide land surface-atmosphere interaction modelers with fractional vegetation cover derived from satellite-based estimates of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) generated from NOAA-AVHRR data.