High-Resolution Aboveground Biomass Maps for Six US Tidal Marsh Regions, 2015

2015 maps of aboveground tidal marsh biomass at 30-meter resolution for six estuarine regions of the conterminous United States. The dataset was produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration using a random forest model driven by Landsat vegetation indices and field-measured biomass data. Biomass can be converted to carbon stocks using a mean plant carbon content of 44.1%.

Use Cases

• Modeling carbon storage potential in coastal wetlands based on the provided biomass maps.
• Analyzing spatial patterns of marsh productivity across different US estuaries based on the 30-meter resolution data.
• Calibrating or validating regional ecological models using the field-measured biomass data mentioned in the description.
• Assessing changes in marsh health over time by using the 2015 maps as a baseline.

Strengths

• Covers six distinct estuarine regions across the US, providing comparative geographic scope.
• Provides a specific conversion factor (44.1%) for translating biomass to carbon stocks.
• Uses a 30-meter resolution, which suggests a relatively high spatial detail for regional analysis.
• Model is described as successfully predicting biomass for a range of marsh plant functional types.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Based on land cover data from 2010, which may not reflect conditions at the time of biomass measurement.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Generated from a random forest model driven by Landsat vegetation indices and a national dataset of field-measured biomass.

Time Range

2015

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 19:51:25.971668; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Cape Cod, MA; Chesapeake Bay, MD; Everglades, FL; Mississippi Delta, LA; San Francisco Bay, CA; Puget Sound, WA (conterminous US)