Marsh surface condition index dataset

This set of sixteen Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM)and Operational Land Imager (OLI)(Path 014 and Rows 032 and 033) surface reflectance data sets were collected between 2000 and 2015. This data presents a time-series analysis that uses linear spectral unmixing of composite Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Water Index, and Normalized Difference Soil Index data, to estimate the percentages of marsh vegetation, water, and exposed marsh substrate on the New Jersey intracoastal marshes. We used the composition of the marshes in terms of the percentage of marsh vegetation, water, and marsh substrate to produce Marsh Surface Condition Index (MSCI) maps consisting of three classes of marshes: severely impacted (characterized by 30% or less marsh vegetation), moderately impacted (characterized by greater than 30% to 60% marsh vegetation), and intact marshes (greater than 60% vegetation). The time-series analysis provides a means of evaluating the effect of Hurricane Sandy in the context of sixteen years of data sets collected at times that represent or approach peak vegetation growth. A seventeenth MSCI is the average percentage of vegetation on the New Jersey intracoastal marshes for the most recent six Landsat TM and OLI data sets: August 25, 2009; August 28, 2010; July 14, 2011; July 19, 2013; August 7, 2014, and August 26, 2015. This averaged MSCI data may be the best tool in identifying those areas of the marsh that are at greatest risk from sea level rise and storm damage.

[
  "010:12"
]

[
  "geospatial"
]