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Temperate East Asia (TEA) is characterized by diverse land cover types, including forest and agricultural lands, one of the world’s largest temperate grasslands, and extensive desert and barren landscapes. In this paper, we explored the potential of SPOT-4 VEGETATION (VGT) data for the classification of land cover types in TEA, An unsupervised classification was performed using multi-temporal (March-November 2000) VGT-derived spectral indices (Land Surface Water Index [LSWI] and Enhanced Vegetation Index [EVI]) to generate a land cover map of TEA (called VGT-TEA). Land cover classes from VGT-TEA were aggregated to broad, general class types, and then compared and validated with classifications derived from fine-resolution (Landsat) data. VGT-TEA produced reasonable results when compared to the Landsat products. Analysis of the seasonal dynamics of LSWI and EVI allows for the identification of distinct growth patterns between different vegetation types. We suggest that LSWI seasonal curves can be used to define the growing season for temperate deciduous vegetation, including grassland types. Seasonal curves of EVI tend to have a slightly greater dynamic range than LSWI during the peak growing season and can be useful in discriminating between vegetation types. By using these two complementary spectral indices, VGT data can be used to produce timely and detailed land cover and phenology maps with limited ancillary data needed. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.