- Title
- Estimates of tree canopy loss as a result of Cyclone Monica, in the Magela Creek Catchment Northern Australia
- Creator
- Staben, Grant W.; Evans, Kenneth G.
- Relation
- Austral Ecology Vol. 33, Issue 4, p. 562-569
- Relation
- http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119419313/abstract
- Publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2008
- Description
- Severe tropical Cyclone Monica impacted the coast of northern Australia in April 2006 with estimated maximum wind gusts of 360 km h⁻¹. It rapidly moved inland losing intensity and passed over the town of Jabiru as a category 2 system, with maximum wind gusts recorded at 135 km h⁻¹. The cyclone had a significant impact on the landscapes within the Alligator Rivers Region and significant windthrow of trees occurred. This paper describes the level of impact that category 2 level winds had on tree canopy loss 10 days after cyclone and then again 1 year later. Recovery was assessed using multispectral satellite imagery in sub-catchments of the Magela Creek catchments. A non-linear relationship was fitted between a modified vegetation index (derived from LandsatTM5 satellite data) and percentage tree canopy cover (measured from very high resolution QuickBird satellite data). The results of the non-linear relationship, used to estimate percentage canopy cover, indicate that 10 days after cyclone, there was significant disturbance to tree canopy. However, data 1 year after cyclone show that recovery of canopy across the studied catchments varied between 8% and 19% of the percentage canopy cover that remained after the initial impact of the cyclone. Further analysis in the three sub-catchments using Geographical Information System showed that proportionally, riparian zones and inundated areas in each of the sub-catchments suffered greater loss of tree canopy cover compared with upland areas.
- Subject
- canopy cover; change detection; remote sensing; tropical cyclone; windthrow
- Identifier
- uon:5223
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/43094
- Identifier
- ISSN:1442-9985
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