This dataset lists land surface substrate characteristics observed in Rangeland sites across Australia by the TERN Surveillance Monitoring team, using standardised AusPlots methodologies. <br /> Land surface substrate observations are collected at each site as part of the AusPlots Point intercept method. At each site, observations on the substrate type (e.g. rock, coarse woody debris, litter) are recorded on transect laid out on the plots. These records form the basis for ground cover derivation, see the AusPlots Ground cover and Point intercept methods below.<br />

The dataset consists of composited seasonal surface reflectance images (4 seasons per year) created from the full time series of Sentinel-2 imagery. The imagery has been composited over a season to produce imagery which is representative of that period, using techniques which will reduce contamination by cloud and other problems. This creates a regular time series of reflectance values which captures the variability at seasonal time scales. The benefits are a regular time series with minimal missing data or contamination from various sources of noise as well as data reduction. Each season has exactly one value (per band) for each pixel (or is null, i.e., missing), and the value for that season is assumed to be the representative of the whole season. The algorithm is based on the medoid (in reflectance space) over the time period (the medoid is a multi-dimensional analogue of the median), which is robust against extreme values. The seasonal surface reflectance is of the 6 TM-like bands (Blue, Green, Red, NIR, SWIR1, SWIR2), all at 10 m resolution. This dataset is intended to be a 10 m equivalent of the Landsat surface reflectance, using only Sentinel-2. The two 20m bands are resampled using cubic convolution. The pixel values are scaled reflectance, as 16-bit integers. To retrieve physical reflectance values, the pixel values should be multiplied by 0.0001.

This product has been superseded and will not be processed from early 2023. Please find the updated version 3 of this product here <a href="https://portal.tern.org.au/metadata/24072">Seasonal dynamic reference cover method - Landsat, JRSRP algorithm version 3.0, Queensland Coverage</a>. The seasonal dynamic reference cover method images are created using a modified version of the dynamic reference cover method developed by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2012.02.021">Bastin et al (2012)</a>. This approach calculates a minimum ground cover image over all years to identify locations of most persistent ground cover in years with the lowest rainfall, then uses a moving window approach to calculate the difference between the window's central pixel and its surrounding reference pixels. The output is a difference image between the cover amount of a pixel's reference pixels and the actual cover at that pixel for the season being analysed. Negative values indicate pixels which have less cover than the reference pixels. <br> 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.

This dataset consists of images of fauna, flora, fungi or general scenery or events captured at the site on an ad-hoc basis and may provide the researcher with information regarding the species that occupy, frequent or traverse this site.<br /> <br /> The Calperum Mallee SuperSite was established in 2011 and is located on Calperum Station with research plots located in mallee woodland (burnt in 2014), Callitris woodland and a river floodplain (recovering from extensive grazing), consisting of black box, river red gum and lignum. The core 1 ha plot is located in mallee woodland. For additional site information, see https://www.tern.org.au/tern-observatory/tern-ecosystem-processes/calperum-mallee-supersite/ . <br /> Other images collected at the site include digital cover photography, phenocam time-lapse images taken from fixed under and overstorey cameras, panoramic landscape and photopoint images. <br /><br /> <iframe src="https://maps.google.com/maps?layer=c&amp;panoid=VNc5-dZcKkoAAAGuqlmVHw&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;source=embed&amp;output=svembed&amp;cbp=13%2C208.3252%2C%2C0%2C0" title="Photosphere view of the mallee at Calperum SuperSite (photo J. Armston 2014)" style="height:248px;width:462px;"></iframe> <br />Photosphere view of the mallee at Calperum SuperSite (photo J. Armston 2014)<br />

This dataset consists of images of fauna, flora, fungi or general scenery or events captured at the site on an ad-hoc basis and may provide the researcher with information regarding the species that occupy, frequent or traverse this site.<br /> <br /> The Litchfield Savanna SuperSite was established in 2013 in Litchfield National Park. Site selection was influenced by the history of long-term monitoring work undertaken in this area by the Darwin Centre for Bushfire Research (formerly Bushfires NT). The core 1ha plot is dominated by <em>Eucalyptus miniata</em>. The site is representative of the dominant ecosystem type across northern Australia: frequently burnt tropical savanna in high rainfall areas. For additional site information, see https://www.tern.org.au/tern-observatory/tern-ecosystem-processes/litchfield-savanna-supersite/ . <br /> Phenocam images and photopoints are also collected at the site.

The Sentinel-2 seasonal fractional ground cover product shows the proportion of bare ground, green and non-green ground cover and is derived directly from the Sentinel-2 seasonal fractional cover product, also produced by Queensland's Remote Sensing Centre. The seasonal fractional cover product is a spatially explicit raster product, which predicts vegetation cover at medium resolution (10&nbsp;m per-pixel) for each 3-month calendar season. However, the seasonal fractional cover product does not distinguish tree and mid-level woody foliage and branch cover from green and dry ground cover. As a result, in areas with even minimal tree cover (>15%), estimates of ground cover become uncertain. With the development of the fractional cover time-series, it has become possible to derive an estimate of ‘persistent green’ based on time-series analysis. The persistent green vegetation product provides an estimate of the vertically-projected green-vegetation fraction where vegetation is deemed to persist over time. These areas are nominally woody vegetation. This separation of the 'persistent green' from the fractional cover product, allows for the adjustment of the underlying spectral signature of the fractional cover image and the creation of a resulting 'true' ground cover estimate for each season. The estimates of cover are restricted to areas of <60% woody vegetation. Currently, the persistent green product has only been produced at 30&nbsp;m pixel resolution based on Landsat imagery, resulting in this Sentinel-2 seasonal ground cover product having a medium 30&nbsp;m pixel resolution also. This is an experimental product which has not been fully validated. This product is similar to the <a href="https://portal.tern.org.au/metadata/23884 ">Seasonal ground cover - Landsat, JRSRP algorithm Version 3.0, Australia Coverage</a> which is based on a different satellite sensor.

An estimate of persistent green cover per season. This is intended to estimate the portion of vegetation that does not completely senesce within a year, which primarily consists of woody vegetation (trees and shrubs), although there are exceptions where non-woody cover remains green all year round. It is derived by fitting a multi-iteration minimum weighted smoothing spline through the green fraction of the seasonal fractional cover (dp1) time series. A single band image is produced: persistent green vegetation cover (in percent). The no data value is 255.

This product has been superseded and will not be processed from early 2023. Please find the updated version 3 of this product at https://portal.tern.org.au/metadata/24070. Two fractional cover decile products, green cover and total cover, are currently produced from the historical timeseries of seasonal fractional cover images. These products compare, at the per-pixel level, the level of cover for the specific season of interest against the long term cover for that same season. For each pixel, all cover values for the relevant seasons within a baseline period (1988 to 2013) are classified into deciles. The cover value for the pixel in the season of interest is then classified according to the decile in which it falls.

This dataset consists of images of fauna, flora, fungi or general scenery or events captured at the site on an ad-hoc basis and may provide the researcher with information regarding the species that occupy, frequent or traverse this site.<br /> The Alice Mulga SuperSite was established in 2010 at Pine Hill Cattle Station with research plots located in low open woodland Mulga (<em>Acacia aneura</em>) and non-Acacia, hummock grassland, and river red gum forest. The core 1 ha plot is located in a dense Mulga woodland (cover 70–80%). For additional site information, see https://www.tern.org.au/tern-observatory/tern-ecosystem-processes/alice-mulga-supersite/ . <br /> Other images collected at the site include digital cover photography, phenocam time-lapse images taken from fixed under and overstorey cameras, panoramic landscape and photopoint images.

Two fractional cover decile products, green cover and total cover, are currently produced from the historical timeseries of seasonal fractional cover images. These products compare, at the per-pixel level, the level of cover for the specific season of interest against the long term cover for that same season. For each pixel, all cover values for the relevant seasons within a baseline period (1988-2013) are classified into deciles. The cover value for the pixel in the season of interest is then classified according to the decile in which it falls. This product is based upon the JRSRP Fractional Cover 3.0 algorithm.