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Dryad

Pacific Atoll Vegetation Maps

Abstract

Vegetation classification maps of 235 Pacific atolls (1,925.6 km2 in total) featuring four land cover classes (broadleaf tree canopy, coconut palm canopy, low vegetation, and non-vegetated surface) at 2 m resolution. Coconut palms are mapped with a balanced accuracy of 85.3%, producer’s accuracy (sensitivity or recall) of 82.5%, user’s accuracy (positive predictive value) of 68.7%, and specificity of 88.1%. Balanced accuracies for broadleaf tree canopy and low vegetation were lower (75.5% and 70.3%, respectively), in part because these classes often appear similar in satellite imagery. Non-vegetated land was classified with a balanced accuracy of 87.7%. The 235 classification maps feature an overall accuracy of 71.1%, significantly higher than the no-information rate of 34.4% (p = 2.2e−16). Across the 235 mapped atolls, 36.6±1.0% of vegetated surfaces featured a coconut palm canopy. By area, 58.3±1.8% of tree canopies (i.e. excluding low-statured vegetation) were coconut palm. A patch classifier identified 310.9 km2 of dense, monodominant coconut stands across the 235 mapped atolls, representing 51.2% of the study-wide coconut area. The classification maps are provided as georeferenced GeoTIFF files as well as PDF files for ease of viewing. Tabular databases including per-atoll and per-islet land cover data are also included, along with geopolitical and historical data about each atoll.