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Mapping and Monitoring Mangrove Forests in Southeast Asia
Project Start Date
08/13/2019
Project End Date
04/16/2020
Regional_Initiative_Name
Solicitation
default

Team Members:

Person Name Person role on project Affiliation
Marc Simard Principal Investigator Caltech/ Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, United States
Abstract

Mangrove ecosystems provide several ecosystem services ranging from shoreline protection against erosion, tsunamis and storms, as well as nutrient cycling, fisheries production, lumber and habitat. But as a result of their location and economic value, they are among the most rapidly changing landscapes on Earth. While the effects of sea-level rise and increased extreme climatic events may increase the vulnerability of this ecosystem, the greatest current threats derive from human activities such as aquaculture, freshwater diversions, overharvesting and urban and industrial development. The conversion of mangrove forests to aquaculture is one of the largest contributors to mangrove forest degradation, particularly in South East Asia.

This project aims to use radar remote sensing to generate science-ready baseline maps of mangrove canopy structure and develop algorithms for monitoring land-use change.  First, we generate baseline maps of mangrove canopy structure, including height and biomass, using SRTM, TanDEM-X, ICESAT-1/2 and GEDI data.   These products are used to indicate potential ecosystem services and to assess vulnerability to these same services.  Object-based change detection algorithms are developed to identify land cover and land use change (LCLUC) maps from time-series of ALOS-1, ALOS-2 and Sentinel-1.  The baseline maps of canopy structure, along with geometric indices describing the shape of detected changes, support identification of proximate driver of LCLUC.  The radar-derived LCLUC products combined with the baseline maps support evaluation of regional vulnerability as well as evaluation of damage to ecosystems in terms of forest extent and volume. We plan to use these algorithms to process the upcoming NISAR mission. 

Project Documents

Year Authors Type Title
2019 Marc Simard Lola Fatoyinbo Publications Simard, Marc, Lola Fatoyinbo, Charlotte Smetanka, Victor H. Rivera-Monroy, Edward Castañeda-Moya, Nathan Thomas, and Tom Van der Stocken. 2019. “Mangrove Canopy Height Globally Related to Precipitation, Temperature and Cyclone Frequency.” Nature Geoscience 12 (1): 40–45. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-018-0279-1.
2017 Publications Breithaupt, Joshua L., Joseph M. Smoak, Victor H. Rivera-Monroy, Edward Castañeda-Moya, Ryan P. Moyer, Marc Simard, and Christian J. Sanders. 2017. “Partitioning the Relative Contributions of Organic Matter and Mineral Sediment to Accretion Rates in Carbonate Platform Mangrove Soils.” Marine Geology 390 (June): 170–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2017.07.002.
2017 Publications Thomas, Nathan, Richard Lucas, Peter Bunting, Andrew Hardy, Ake Rosenqvist, and Marc Simard. 2017. “Distribution and Drivers of Global Mangrove Forest Change, 1996-2010.” PLoS ONE 12 (6). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0179302
2016 Publications Rovai, A. S., P. Riul, R. R. Twilley, E. Casta??eda-Moya, V. H. Rivera-Monroy, A. A. Williams, M. Simard, et al. 2016. “Scaling Mangrove Aboveground Biomass from Site-Level to Continental-Scale.” Global Ecology and Biogeography 25 (3): 286–98. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.12409.
2016 Publications Jerath, Meenakshi, Mahadev Bhat, Victor H Rivera-monroy, Edward Castañeda-moya, Marc Simard, and Robert R Twilley. 2016. “Environmental Science & Policy The Role of Economic , Policy , and Ecological Factors in Estimating the Value of Carbon Stocks in Everglades Mangrove Forests , South Florida , USA.” Environmental Science and Policy 66: 160–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2016.09.005
2014 Publications Lucas, Richard, Lisa Maria Rebelo, Lola Fatoyinbo, Ake Rosenqvist, Takuya Itoh, Masanobu Shimada, Marc Simard, et al. 2014. “Contribution of L-Band SAR to Systematic Global Mangrove Monitoring.” Marine and Freshwater Research 65 (7): 589–603. https://doi.org/10.1071/MF13177.