Estuary Assessments of the Gulf of Carpentaria: 2017-2019 Aerial Surveys

2017 and 2019 aerial surveys assessed the condition of 31–37 major estuary mouths in the Gulf of Carpentaria following mass mangrove dieback in 2015-2016. Observations scored 10-20 features related to natural and human pressures, including storm impacts, erosion, dieback, fire, and feral pig damage. The data, associated with the Australian Ocean Data Network, classifies shoreline health using criteria like driver type, impact extent, severity, and time frame.

Use Cases

• Assessing mangrove dieback recovery timelines based on severity scores for natural recovery.
• Mapping the spatial extent of human pressures like feral pig damage and fire across tidal wetlands.
• Prioritizing conservation management actions based on combined rankings of impact extent and severity.
• Analyzing correlations between observed drivers like sea level rise and specific habitat degradation indicators.

Strengths

• Surveys cover 31–37 major estuary mouths, providing a regional assessment scale.
• Observations include a standard set of 10-20 features for consistent scoring of pressures.
• Data includes structured scoring for impact extent (1-5 scale) and severity (1-5 scale based on recovery time).

Limitations

• Row count, column details, and sample data are unknown, limiting suitability assessment.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Data may reflect geographic and temporal bias inherent to the specific aerial survey methods and years.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Aerial shoreline surveys with filmed edges and observational scoring.

Time Range

2017, 2019

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-10 17:10:53.305921; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Gulf of Carpentaria estuary mouths