Addressing mangrove protection in Australia: The contribution of earth observation technologies

Significant changes in mangrove ecosystems have occurred across large areas of Australia over the last decade, with these including extensive mangrove dieback (along much of the northern coastline) and cyclone damage. Such changes need to be detected and quantified when they occur, and the recovery from such events monitored over extended periods to ascertain effectiveness of adaptive management strategies. This paper presents the conceptual basis for development and implementation of a monitoring system, with key elements being routine detection of mangrove change (e.g., extent, health, species) using dense time-series of optical satellite data available within the Australian Geoscience Data Cube (AGDC), the collation of all publicly available field, drone and aircraft observations through Australia's Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN), and the acquisition of new datasets under common protocols. Datasets and products need to be open access to inform policy and enable coordinated scientific research.