The distribution and dynamics of mangroves are influenced by a number of factors relating to the terrestrial environment, with these including hydrology and geomorphology
Flooding Northern Australia
Hydrology The discharge or water and sediment through rivers has an impact on mangroves, leading to erosion on the coastline but also accretion with this often leading to loss and gains of mangroves and changes in structure. An example is provided for the Gulf of Carpentaria, which shows extensive flooding in the Flinders River and proximal catchments (Asbridge et al.., 2016)
Geomorphology Along the coastline of Australia, a wide range of coastal landform (or geomorphological) types have been recognized and described on the basis of topography, elevation, shape and composition (e.g., based on rock types, unconsolidated materials. These include coastal plains (e.g., along the Gulf of Carpentaria) but also more topographically diverse areas (e.g., the Kimberley). Tidal ranges are high in the north of Australia, in particular, and the extent of inundation at the higher tidal levels is greatest in low lying and flat terrain. Many mangrove areas are sheltered from high energy waves, including along the north-east tropical coastline (as these are moderated by the Great Barrier Reef), the northern coast (because of reduced exposure to large oceanic pressure systems and fetches) and south eastern Queensland (because of an extensive chain of sand islands). Along the coast of New South Wales, ocean waves impact the exposed portions of the coastline and hence mangroves are generally smaller in extent, dispersed and confined to sheltered embayment's and estuaries. The varying lithologies also influence mangrove distributions as these determine (in part) the delivery of different sediment types and amounts to the coastal margin.
Where available, links to environmental conditions on the land surface that impact on the state and dynamics of mangroves are listed below.
The MODIS/Terra and Aqua daily Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity products (short names MOD11A1 and MYD11A1) incorporate 1 km pixels, which are produced daily using the generalized split-window LST algorithm. This algorithm is optimally used to separate ranges of atmospheric column water vapor and lower boundary air surface temperatures into tractable sub-ranges. The surface emissivity's in bands 31 and 32 are estimated from land cover types. The MODIS/Terra 8-day Land Surface Temperature and Emissivity (short name MOD11A2) product is composed from the daily MOD11A1 product.
Data are derived from the MODIS Land Products that are distributed by the LPDAAC as tiles from a global sinusoidal projection. Tiles for selected products for Australia have been downloaded and then mosaiced and remapped using the Modis Reprojection Tool (MRT). The products have been split into individual bands to reduce file size and have been reformatted to ensure consistency in SDS and attribute nomenclature.
Water Observations from Space (WOfS) is a web service displaying historical surface water observations derived from satellite imagery for all of Australia from 1987 to present day. WOfS aims is to allow better understanding of where water is usually present; where it is seldom observed; and where inundation of the surface has been occasionally observed by satellite. WOfS displays the detected surface water from the Australia-wide Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 satellite imagery archive.
The Smartline Coastal Geomorphic Map of Australia is a detailed map of the coastal landform types – or 'geomorphology – of continental Australia and most adjacent islands (excluding the Great Barrier Reef). As a 'geomorphic' map, it represents not just the topography of the coast – the planform, elevation and shape of the coastal landforms which a contour map or digital elevation model may represent - but it also indicates what the differing coastal landforms are made of – varying rock types, laterite, coral, sand, mud, laterite, boulders, beachrock, and so on. The map classifies coastal landforms into differing combinations of form (generalised shape) and constituents (or fabric) which in turn are indicative of the differing natural processes by which each coastal landform has developed.
The National Vegetation Information System (NVIS) is a comprehensive data system that provides information on the extent and distribution of vegetation types in Australian landscapes.
References Asbridge, E., Lucas, R.M., Ticehurst, C. and Bunting, P. (2016). Mangrove response to environmental change in Australia's Gulf of Carpentaria. Ecology and Evolution, 6, 3523–3539, doi:10.1002/ece3.2140 (2016).
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