Australian Woody Vegetation Clearing Analysis 1990-1995

158 Landsat Thematic Mapper scenes were analyzed by State agencies and BRS to measure land cover change across Australia's agricultural regions. The study revised national woody vegetation clearing estimates from 517,800 hectares to 308,000 hectares annually. This dataset was produced by SCIOPS and published in February 1996.

Use Cases

• Calculate greenhouse gas emissions from land-use change using the 1,212,620 hectares cleared and its 77% contribution to the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory.
• Model historical agricultural expansion by analyzing the 1.1% reduction in native woody vegetation cover attributed to clearing for cropping and grazing.
• Assess reforestation efforts by comparing the 414,010 hectares of woody vegetation increase from planting against the 292,030 hectares annual clearing rate.
• Track urban and infrastructure development impact using the 16,100 hectares cleared for roads and urban areas over the five-year period.

Strengths

• Analysis based on 158 Landsat satellite scenes providing spatially accurate estimates.
• Enables continent-wide trend analysis with specific annual clearing rates like 292,030 hectares.

Limitations

• Data is temporally stale, with the last update in 1996 and no recent observations.
• Study area is limited to Australia's more intensively used agricultural regions, excluding grasslands and heathlands.
• Original data collection methods and raw column-level details are unavailable for validation.

Provenance

Source

SCIOPS, utilizing data from State agencies and BRS.

Collection Method

Remote sensing analysis of Landsat Thematic Mapper scenes combined with vegetation and ancillary datasets.

Time Range

1990/91 to 1995 (with regional variations for ACT, NSW, and Queensland starting in 1991).

Geography

Australia, focusing on intensively used agricultural areas across all states and territories.