The main differences between this method and the original method are that this method uses seasonal fractional ground cover rather than the preceding ground cover index (GCI) and this method excludes cleared areas and certain landforms (undulating slopes), which are considered unsuitable for use as reference pixels.
Credit
We at TERN acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians throughout Australia, New Zealand and all nations. We honour their profound connections to land, water, biodiversity and culture and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
This dataset was produced using Landsat data sourced from US Geological Survey.
Purpose
This product provides a way to compare ground cover across the landscape within a particular season.
Supplemental Information
Output for this product is in the form of a two band TIFF image. Band 1 - the 'delta GC' image. Band 2 - the reference pixel image
Lineage
Data Creation
Excluded Areas:
A mask of excluded areas not to be used in the development of the reference pixels is created. This mask includes areas that have previously been cleared and also undulating plains. This data is obtained from the SLATS historical clearing data across QLD.
Find Reference Pixels:
The 90-95 percentile of minimum ground cover are selected from the long term minimum ground cover statistical product, masked with the excluded areas mask described above.
Create the Delta GC layer:
For each pixel this raster equals the difference between the ground cover value and the reference pixel value and is scaled by 100 to avoid negative values (ground cover value - reference pixel value + 100). Values closer to 100 are better performing.