Supporting Mangrove Monitoring in Australia: A Role for TERN/AusCover.

Over the past few years, significant changes in mangroves have occurred across large areas of Australia, with these including extensive mangrove dieback (along much of the northern coastline) and cyclone damage (e.g., on the east coast). Such changes need to be detected as and when they occur and the recovery from such events monitored over extended periods. This paper therefore focuses on the formulation, 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) and C- and L-band SAR observations (in conjunction with global forest and mangrove monitoring systems), the collation of all publicly available field, drone and aircraft observations through TERN/AusCover and the collection of new datasets under common protocols, and the planning and facilitation of airborne and satellite missions to generate key high resolution baseline datasets against which to quantify change. For effective delivery and operation, whole of community involvement is essential through avenues such as the AMSN and the Australian Earth Observation Community Coordination Group (AEOCCG). All datasets and products also need to be made publically available to inform policy and enable coordinated scientific research