Spatial Consistency and Accuracy Analysis of Multi-Source Land Cover Products on the Southeastern Tibetan Plateau, China

Land cover products provide the key inputs for terrestrial change monitoring and modeling. Numerous land cover products have been generated in the past few decades, but their performance on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau remains unclear. This study analyzed 15 land cover products for consistency through compositional similarity and overlay analyses. Additionally, 1305 validation samples from four datasets were employed to construct confusion matrices to evaluate their accuracy. The results indicate the following: (1) Land cover products exhibit relatively high consistency in 62.92% of the region. (2) Land cover products are strongly influenced by terrain fluctuations, showing lower consistency at elevation below 200 m and instability in land cover classification with increasing elevation, particularly between 2800–4400 m and 4800–5400 m. (3) The accuracy for forest, water, and snow/ice is relatively high. However, there is a relatively lower accuracy for wetland and shrubland, necessitating more field samples for reference to improve classification. (4) The average values of the four validation datasets show that the overall accuracy of the 15 products ranges from 50.97% to 73.50%. For broad-scale studies with lower resolution requirements, the CGLS-LC100 product can be considered. For studies requiring a finer scale, a combination of multiple land cover products should be utilized. ESRI is recommended as a reference for built-up land, while FROM-GLC30 can be used for cropland, although misclassification issues should be noted. This study provides valuable insights for analyzing land cover types on plateaus to refine classification. It also offers guidance for selecting suitable land cover products for future research in this region.