Urban Forest Scenarios and Ecosystem Services for Melbourne

10 x 10 meter resolution raster data models urban heat mitigation and stormwater retention for Melbourne under 2019 conditions and two 2050 scenarios. The data includes land cover maps, a heat mitigation index, and stormwater volume retained per pixel. It was produced by Marie Dade for a 2026 study on urban forest strategy impacts.

Use Cases

• Compare land cover code changes between the 2019 baseline and the 2050 heat vulnerability scenario to assess urban forest strategy impacts.
• Analyze the urban heat mitigation index across the metropolitan area to identify neighborhoods with low cooling benefits.
• Model the volume of stormwater retained per 10x10m pixel under the biodiversity habitat scenario to inform green infrastructure planning.
• Integrate land cover raster files with heat mitigation results to evaluate trade-offs between cooling and biodiversity objectives.

Strengths

• Data is provided at a high spatial resolution of 10 x 10 meters for detailed landscape analysis.
• Includes modeled projections for two distinct 2050 policy scenarios (heat vulnerability and biodiversity habitat).
• Ecosystem services are quantified using established InVEST models for urban cooling and stormwater retention.

Limitations

• Data is limited to the Melbourne metropolitan area, limiting generalizability to other cities.
• Future scenarios are model projections subject to the assumptions and uncertainties of the underlying InVEST models.
• No tabular row or column counts are provided, making the dataset's exact computational scale unclear.

Provenance

Source

Marie Dade, associated with research published in Ecosystem Services (2026).

Collection Method

Generated using InVEST urban cooling and stormwater retention models applied to land cover maps.

Time Range

Covers 2019 conditions and projected scenarios for the year 2050.

Freshness

Last updated in March 2026, representing recent projections.

Geography

Melbourne metropolitan area, Australia, using GDA94/MGA Zone 55 projection.