OPERATIONAL USE OF ANNUAL LANDSAT-5 TM AND

LANDSAT-7 ETM+ IMAGE TIME SERIES FOR MAPPING

WOODED EXTENT AND FOLIAGE PROJECTIVE COVER IN
NORTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA
1 1,3 1 2,3
Joanna Kitchen , John Armston , Andrew Clark , Tim Danaher ,
Peter Scarth 1,3

1
Remote Sensing Centre, Queensland Department of Environment and
Resource Management, 80 Meiers Road, Indooroopilly, Qld, Australia, 4068
Tel: +61 7 3896 9616, Email: Andrew.J.Clark@derm.qld.gov.au
2
Information Sciences Branch, Department of Environment, Climate Change
and Water, PO Box 856, Alstonville, NSW, Australia, 2477
Tel: +61 2 6627 0224, Email: Tim.Danaher@environment.nsw.gov.au
3
Joint Remote Sensing Research Program, Centre for Spatial Environmental
Research, School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Management,
The University of Queensland

Abstract
Large area and long-term spatial data on vegetation cover is critical for
environmental legislation and carbon emission calculation and assessment. In
Queensland and New South Wales (NSW) there is a requirement to produce
accurate statewide maps of wooded extent and foliage projective cover (FPC).
Approaches that use single date satellite images are limited if photosynthetic
herbaceous foliage is present at the time of image acquisition. Therefore an
approach was developed that uses an annual time series of Landsat-5 TM and
Landsat-7 ETM+ imagery from 1986 to 2008, which consists of over 2500
images for Queensland and NSW. In order to be insensitive to perturbations
such as fire, robust and ordinary least-squares linear regression were used to
model temporal trends in an annual FPC index. Thresholding of derived
temporal statistics was used to classify wooded extent. Thresholds were
optimised using Queensland-wide field data. Estimates of FPC were derived
from the regression model trend estimates. The classification was stratified
using ancillary datasets on the spatial extent of cropping and forestry
plantations. Quantitative validation of the final product showed good agreement
2 2
with field (r 0.78) and lidar (r 0.93) estimates of FPC. Work is underway to
improve the classification of wooded extent using radar imagery and the
extraction of temporal trends in FPC using the full Landsat archive.

Introduction
The Queensland and New South Wales Governments require large area
mapping and monitoring of vegetation cover for regulation, compliance,
restoration, and other management actions. The metric of vegetation cover

1
adopted in many Australian vegetation classification frameworks is foliage
projective cover (FPC) (Sun et al., 1997). FPC is defined as the horizontally
projected percentage cover of photosynthetic foliage of all strata (Specht,
1983). However in this paper FPC refers to the vertically projected percentage
cover of photosynthetic foliage from tree and shrub life forms only. Since
Australian plant communities are dominated by trees and shrubs with sparse
foliage and irregular crown shapes, FPC is a more suitable indicator of a plant
community’s radiation interception and transpiration than crown cover (Specht
and Specht, 1999). Approximately 11% FPC corresponds to 20% crown cover
(Scarth et al., 2008), which is the vegetation cover metric used in the definition
of forest extent according to Kyoto Protocol rules (AGO, 2003). In this paper,
wooded extent refers to the presence of FPC (1−100%).
Operational mapping of wooded extent and FPC requires an efficient and
automated method due to the large volume of satellite and ancillary data that
require processing and interpretation. Previous research has developed
regression modelling and spectral unmixing-based approaches to estimating
FPC, however using spectral information alone makes separating woody and
herbaceous cover difficult over large areas (Armston et al., 2009 and
references therein). More success has been achieved over large areas by time
series decomposition of data from multi-spectral, high temporal resolution,
coarse spatial resolution sensors such as the Advanced Very High Resolution
Radiometer (AVHRR) and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer
(MODIS). This is simply due to evergreen wooded vegetation generally
exhibiting less seasonality in time series of vegetation indices compared to
herbaceous cover (Lu et al., 2003; Gill et al., 2009).
1
The Statewide Landcover and Trees Study (SLATS ) required a method for an
annual time series (from 1986 to date) of dry-season Landsat-5 Thematic
Mapper (TM) and Landsat-7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) as these
data are at a resolution and extent suitable for end-users. The annual sampling
of these data means techniques developed for AVHRR and MODIS time series
can not be directly applied. A small number of studies have used spectral
unmixing and linear trend analyses to assess an annual Landsat image time
series (Röder et al., 2008; Hostert et al., 2003). However these techniques
have not been implemented and validated with ground data in Australian
environments. Additional challenges with operationally using an annual Landsat
time series consisting of over 2500 images include the removal of time series
contamination caused by water, fire/smoke, cloud and cloud shadow (Liang et
al., 2002; Hostert et al., 2003).
This paper presents an overview of the approach used to operationally map
wooded extent and FPC across Queensland and New South Wales, Australia.
Initially, the algorithm and various datasets used are described. The calibration
and validation of the method using extensive field and lidar data are then
presented. Finally, the limitations of the product and its operational

1
http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/slats

2
implementation are discussed along with the research currently underway to
address them.

Data and Methods

Field, image and ancillary data

The sampling design, field methods and acquisition of greater than 1900
SLATS field observations of stand basal area (SBA) used for calibration of the
wooded extent and FPC products are described by Lucas et al. (2006) and
Armston et al. (2009). Coincident field and Optech ALTM3025 airborne lidar
data were used for the validation of FPC predictions. Nineteen lidar surveys
were acquired with a total of 47 field sites collected from 16 of the 19 survey
sites within one month of acquisition. The acquisition and processing the field
and lidar data is described by Armston et al. (2009).
TM and ETM+ imagery were acquired with Australian Centre for Remote
Sensing (ACRES) Level-5 processing. Image dates were restricted to dry
season months (May to October inclusive) for Queensland to minimize cloud
cover and photosynthetic herbaceous cover. No restrictions were placed on
NSW image dates but most were between September and March. All TM and
ETM+ images were geometrically registered to an orthorectified ETM+ image
mosaic (Gill et al., 2010a). Radiometric calibration (de Vries et al., 2007) and an
empirical bi-directional reflection distribution function (BRDF) correction
(Danaher et al., 2002) were applied. The NSW image data also had a
topographic correction applied (Gill et al., 2010b). Reflectance values affected
by cloud, cloud shadow, smoke, water or topographic shadow in any image
date were removed using Landsat-derived masks (Shaw and Gillingham, 2006;
Danaher and Collett, 2006).
Ancillary data used to stratify the wooded extent and FPC algorithm included
plantation and crop masks sourced from the Queensland Land Use Mapping
Project (QLUMP) for 1999 (Witte et al., 2006). Crop classes of “Cropping”,
“Perennial and Seasonal Horticulture”, “Irrigated Cropping”, and “Irrigated
Perennial and Seasonal Horticulture” were combined to form a binary mask of
crop/non-crop. Commission errors due to creeks, windbreaks and roads were
manually edited out. For the binary forestry/non-forestry mask, forestry classes
included “Plantation Forestry” and “Production Forestry”. The ALUM (Australian
Land Use Mapping) Version 6 dataset 2 was used to produce plantation and
crop masks for NSW. The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) 90 m
Digital Surface Model (Farr et al., 2007) was used to generate a slope raster
using a 3x3 kernel.

Fitting trends to the annual time series

Time series of an annual FPC index were generated based on a multiple linear
regression (MLR) model developed using pre-processed Landsat imagery, a

2
http://adl.brs.gov.au/mapserv/landuse

3
climatological ancillary variable, vapor-pressure deficit (VPD), and field
calibration data collected from over 1900 sites in Queensland (Lucas et al.,
2
2006). Cross-validation showed this model had an adjusted R of 0.80 and an
RMSE of 9.9%. Armston et al. (2009) independently validated the MLR model
using FPC derived from field and airborne lidar data. The model provided a
prediction accuracy of <10% RMSE but showed greater than 10% bias in plant
communities with a high level of photosynthetic herbaceous cover.
The next step was to separate the trend from the variance in the annual FPC
index time series. The annual FPC index values are therefore assumed to be a
combination of herbaceous and woody cover with an error component. Up to 22
near-annual Landsat-derived FPC images between 1986 and 2008 were
available for each of the 87 scenes covering Queensland and 44 scenes
covering NSW. To account for the irregular sequence of image dates and
annual sampling, least-squares linear regression between FPC and the image
date was used. This is consistent with similar studies using Landsat time series
(Röder et al., 2008; Furby et al., 2009).
Least-squares linear regression is very sensitive to outliers and a method was
required to identify unusual observations caused by fire, unclassified cloud or
other extreme events that perturbed an otherwise stable time series. Iteratively
re-weighted least-squares and a Huber weighting function with a tuning
constant of 2 was used to fit a robust regression via M-estimation (Huber,
1981). If the resulting residuals were greater than or equal to MAR/0.6745,
where MAR is the median absolute residual, then the corresponding
observations were labelled as outliers. Multiple change events or extreme
values in a time series, e.g. that caused by cropping management practices,
were not labelled as outliers using this approach.
In the case of the final date in the time series, it was also important to test for a
major difference between the fitted value from the robust regression and the
actual value for the final year of the time series, a “switch” statistic (S) was
calculated by
FPC n − Yn
S= , (1)
σˆ
where FPCn is the annual FPC index value and Yn is the fitted robust regression
value for the final date in the time series, and σˆ is the standard error of the
least-squares linear regression fit. S was used to switch between the Landsat
time series with and without outliers removed in order to account for events
such as clearing that occurred late in an otherwise stable time series.
In the case of land clearing or a similar major disturbance event followed by
woody regrowth, it was invalid to fit a single regression line to the entire time
series. Therefore, a method was developed to split the time series by
calculating the most likely split point based on a t-test of the regression fit
(Figure 1). The method iteratively calculates regression lines from the end of
the time period back to each date and then selects the point with the highest t-
value as the split point.

4
 100% 8
FPC time-series 7
80% Best trend estimate
6
Annual FPC index

Lagged t-test

60% 5

t-value
4
40% ` 3

2
20%
1

0% 0
1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009
Year

Figure 1. Example of the trend-fitting method used to split the annual FPC index time
series when a major disturbance event followed by woody regrowth is detected. The
green line is the annual FPC index time series and diamonds show the significance of
the regression fit from 2009 back in time to any given year. In this example, the time
series is split in 1998. The figure is adapted from Danaher et al. (2010).

Classification of wooded extent and FPC

In order to discriminate wooded land cover from non-wooded areas such as
crop and pasture, a decision tree classification was developed based on
thresholds applied to the Landsat time series minimum and a normalised
standard error of the fitted trend.
The time series minimum (Ymin) is often assumed to represent the persistent or
woody component of vegetation cover (Roderick et al., 1999; Donohue et al.,
2009). Ymin was calculated here as
min(Y ) if S ≥ x
Ymin =  , (2)
min(Yo ) if S < x
where Y is the annual FPC index time series, Y0 is the same time series with
outliers removed and x is a threshold to be optimised. Outliers were removed in
the calculation of the minimum statistic to avoid unusually dry images causing
sparsely wooded regions to be classified as non-wooded (e.g. due to drought-
induced leaf drop and fire).
In Australia, several studies have shown that the temporal variance of a
spectral vegetation index for wooded vegetation is less than that of non-wooded
vegetation, particularly compared to pastures and crops (Lu et al., 2003; Gill et
al., 2009; Donohue et al., 2009). In the case of the Landsat time series here, a
normalised standard error (NSE) was calculated as
σˆ
NSE = , (3)
Ymin

5
where σˆ is the standard error of the least-squares linear regression fit. σˆ was
used instead of the variance to account for areas with significant trend in woody
vegetation, such as woody regrowth cleared early in the time series. The NSE
was found to improve the contrast between wooded and non-wooded land
cover, especially in areas of low FPC such as open savannas that have high
temporal variation in herbaceous cover.
Thresholds were applied to S, Ymin and NSE in the first component of the
decision tree shown in Figure 2. If the conditions were true then the
classification was nominally non-wooded. Default thresholds for S, Ymin and
NSE were derived using the statewide SLATS SBA field dataset. Field sites
with a SBA greater than zero were categorized as wooded. Additional sites in
non-wooded cropping areas were extracted from Landsat data through manual
interpretation of the imagery and aerial photography. These data were then
used to optimise the S, Ymin and NSE thresholds by maximizing the Kappa
statistic, a measure of omission and commission, using a global optimization
technique (genetic algorithm; Yearstretch GASolver 3 Version 1.5.6, 2002).
The classification in Figure 2 then proceeds through a series of decisions
designed to minimise specific cases of wooded omission or commission error:
• Due to the absence of a Landsat radiance-based topographic correction for
Queensland and limitations of the NSW correction, decisions were
developed to avoid wooded omission error on spectrally bright eastern
aspect slopes. The elevation slope threshold was 25° for Queensland and
45° for NSW.
• The Landsat time series often failed to capture the management cycle of
crops such as sugar cane, which often resulted in time series similar to
wooded vegetation. Areas within the crop mask were classified as non-
wooded.
• Areas used for forestry plantations are subject to fire, woody regrowth
control following clearing, selective and full timber harvesting. This resulted
in a low Ymin and high NSE. Therefore the least squares linear regression fit
to the annual FPC index time series was split (Figure 1). With reference to
available independent data, thresholds to separate wooded and non-
wooded land cover were developed though visual interpretation (Figure 2;
SE is the standard error of the least squares linear regression fit).
• In order to detect woody regrowth following clearing within the annual FPC
index time series, the least squares linear regression fit was also split for
areas remaining nominally classified as non-wooded from the first decision
in Figure 2. Due to the different temporal dynamics and management
practices that occur in areas of natural vegetation compared to plantations,
a different set of thresholds to separate wooded and non-wooded land cover
were developed though visual interpretation (Figure 2).

3
http://www.yearstretch.com/gasolver.htm

6
 NSE <= x
Ymin >= x

True False

Within crop mask? Elevation slope >= x% &

Robust fitted Yn > 20%

True False False True

Non-Wooded Wooded* Within plantation mask? Wooded*

False True

Split least-squares regression: Split least-squares regression:

Slope >= 0.004 & Fitted Yn >= 25% Slope > 0 &
& SE <= 11% & No. images >= 5 Fitted Yn > 15% &
& (Yn >= 15% | Yn = 0%) R-Squared >= 0.6

False True False True

Non-Wooded Wooded* Non-Wooded Wooded*

Figure 2. Flow chart of the decision process followed to classify Landsat annual time
series as wooded or non-wooded. Thresholds that are to be optimised or are
dependent on State are denoted x. * It is possible for an individual time series
classified as “Wooded” to have a value of zero after prediction of FPC.

If the annual FPC index time series had ≥ 3 observations and was classified as
wooded in Figure 2, the FPC value (0−100%) was derived from the robust
linear regression fitted trend line for the final date in the time series (Yn). The
assumption was that the robust linear regression fit successfully separated
trends from seasonality (particularly that from herbaceous vegetation) and
noise. There were two exceptions to using the robust linear regression fit.
Firstly, if the S statistic was greater than or equal to the optimised threshold,
then the annual FPC index value (Yn) was used. Secondly, if the least-squares
linear regression split shown in Figure 1 was applied, the fitted value for Yn from
the result was used.

Post-processing
Two automated post-processing steps were implemented at the end of the
classification process to correct any missing data values and apply a multi-
temporal water mask. A large proportion of the Landsat image time series over
Cape York Peninsula were cloud contaminated. It was therefore difficult to
retain at least three valid observations for any given time series, and the
resulting pixel value was often the null value. These pixels were corrected by

7
replacing the null value with the most recent cloud-free annual FPC index
value. In most instances, the values were from imagery close to the nominal
prediction date.
As significantly reduced water extent exists in Landsat images acquired during
periods of drought or coastal images acquired at low tide, large areas of tidal
zones, dams and lakes were incorrectly classified as wooded or non-wooded
due to the herbaceous ground cover or bare ground, respectively. For each
water mask date, erroneous water pixels were removed if they had been also
classified as cloud, cloud shadow, or topographic shadow in the other available
masks. The resulting time series of water masks were then used to calculate
the number of dates with inundation. If the number of inundation dates were ≥
7, it was recoded to the null value. This threshold was manually lowered for
some scenes depending on the range of tides and conditions present in the
time series, and the number of available Landsat images.

Validation
The Landsat FPC estimates were compared to field and lidar derived FPC. The
field and lidar estimates of FPC were derived following the procedures of
Armston et al. (2009). The area covered by the lidar data is much greater than
the field data, therefore the lidar data was spatially aggregated to Regional
Ecosystem (RE; Accad et al., 2006). RE’s are defined as areas of consistent
landform, geology and vegetation and are also the basis for vegetation
management policy in Queensland. As the lidar data essentially provides many
replicates of FPC measurements at the field plot scale within an RE, this
validation approach permitted the discrimination between random, systematic
and locally systematic errors (Armston et al., 2009).

Results and Discussion

Decision tree threshold optimisation

The optimised thresholds were 92 (NSE), 103 (3% annual FPC index; Ymin) and
125 (25% annual FPC index; S). The Kappa statistic for the model calibration
was 86.86%, which is a good result considering one set of thresholds was used
for all of Queensland. Table 1 shows the error matrix resulting from the
optimisation using the Queensland-wide SBA field dataset, with an overall
model error of 6.46%, non-wooded omission error of 7.20% and non-wooded
commission error of 5.90%.
It was found that to improve local accuracy upon application of the model the
optimised thresholds were manually adjusted for a minor proportion of
individual Landsat scenes. S and the thresholds used in the final decision in
Figure 2 were the most common thresholds manually adjusted. It is important to
note that the manual adjustment of thresholds was done in reference to field
observations and aerial photography by trained operators and included several
stages of checking to ensure consistency.

8
 Table 1. Error matrix resulting from optimisation of the wooded extent classification
thresholds using the Queensland-wide SBA field dataset.
Observed
Wooded Non-wooded Total
Predicted

Wooded 1238 102 1340

Non-wooded 96 1627 1723
Total 1334 1729 3063

The requirement for manual adjustment of thresholds is in part due to the use
of one set of thresholds for all of Queensland, but is also due to the annual
sampling of the available Landsat imagery not being of sufficient temporal
resolution to: (i) consistently capture the range of soil and vegetation conditions;
and (ii) to adequately separate the seasonal and trend components of the time
series.
As an example, Figure 3 shows: (i) a Landsat-5 TM image subset; (ii) a
composite image consisting of normalised standard error (red) minimum
(green) and slope (blue), to which the optimised thresholds were applied; and
(iii) the resulting wooded extent and FPC product. The composite image
highlights areas of high NSE and low Ymin in red, which includes areas of tree
clearing, pasture and cropping. Yellow and green areas indicate stable woody
vegetation cover (forest) with high Ymin and low NSE.

Figure 3. (i) dry season Landsat-5 TM (RGB – Bands 5/4/2); (ii) RGB composite image
of normalised standard error (NSE), minimum (Ymin), and the slope of the fitted trend;
and (iii) the 2008 wooded extent and FPC product (the water mask is shown as blue).

Wooded extent and FPC product

The Landsat image time series (up to 22 image dates for each individual
Landsat scene) were processed to produce the wooded extent and FPC
product. The final decision in Figure 2 used for the classification of wooded
extent is also retained as a separate product. The woody extent and FPC
product was then mosaiced for Queensland and NSW. Figure 4 shows the
2008 wooded extent and FPC product mosaic for Queensland (dry season;
May to October) and NSW (September to March; including the ACT).

9
Figure 4. 2008 mosaic of wooded extent and FPC for Queensland, New South Wales
and the Australian Capital Territory. Water and missing data are coloured blue.

10
Similar to the annual FPC index and other existing mapping (Armston et al.,
2009), Figure 4 shows the confinement of the high FPC (and above-ground
biomass) vegetation to closed forests along the eastern Queensland and NSW
coastal areas. The large expanses of lower FPC woodlands through the Mulga
Lands Bioregion in the south west and tropical savanna in the Gulf of
Carpentaria and Cape York Peninsula regions are consistent with field
observations of wooded extent.
Manual checking by trained operators has indicated that the classification
performed well overall. However a number of limitations have been observed in
local areas. Figure 5 shows examples of these areas that include: (i) under-
classification of mulga (Acacia aneura) in western Queensland due to very low
foliage cover (<10%), often related to their narrow pendulous phyllodes and leaf
drop during times of drought; (ii) improved pastures of the Wet Tropics, which
are perennially green and exhibit similar time series properties to wooded
vegetation; and (iii) areas of woody regrowth following clearing, where
automated splitting of the time series was unsuccessful due to high inter-annual
variance in the annual FPC index.

Figure 5. Examples of wooded extent and FPC product limitations: (i) areas of mulga
(Acacia aneura) classified as non-wooded; (ii) areas of improved pastures classified as
wooded; and (iii) areas of woody regrowth classified as non-wooded. Top panel shows
Landsat-5 TM (RGB – Bands 5/4/2) and the bottom panel shows the wooded extent
and FPC product. Arrows highlight a specific example location for each limitation.

11
Validation of FPC estimates
Quantitative validation of the FPC estimates has been undertaken using both
field and lidar data. A direct comparison of field and Landsat estimates of FPC
2
is shown in Figure 6. Overall the agreement is good (r 0.78) and there is a near
1:1 correspondence between the estimates. At low FPC (<10%), the Landsat-
derived product appears to underestimate, which is partly due to the omission
of sparse mulga as shown in Figure 5. The two observations where the
Landsat-derived estimates over-estimate by 25−35% correspond to closed
coastal heathland on seasonally waterlogged alluvial plains and plant
communities with understorey dominated by spinifex (Triodia spp.), which has
evergreen herbaceous foliage. This result is also consistent with validation of
the annual FPC index (Lucas et al., 2006; Armston et al., 2009).

100
r2 = 0.78
RMSE = 10.84
80 n = 47
Field FPC (%)

60

40

20

0
0 20 40 60 80 100
Landsat FPC (% )

Figure 6. Comparison of field and Landsat-derived estimates of FPC.

Figure 7 shows a comparison of Landsat with lidar estimates of FPC (> 0.5 m
above ground) that have been spatially aggregated to RE’s. A minimum of 5
observations was required for an RE polygon to be included in the comparison.
2
The relationship for Figure 7 (right) is strong (r of 0.93), however the RMSE
error bars show the accuracy of individual predictions within an RE is still quite
variable and is the reason for the relatively poor relationship in Figure 6. It also
appears that the Landsat FPC systematically under-predicts at > 60%, which is
not clearly shown in Figure 6 and is the same result found in the validation of
the annual FPC index (Armston et al., 2009). Figure 7 (left) includes RE's where
>1% of the lidar derived FPC was below 0.5m above the ground. These RE’s
mainly correspond to heathland and other coastal plant communities such as
low open Banksia aemula woodland, which are characterised by an understorey

12
 of low herbaceous and woody foliage (e.g. Xanthorrhoea spp.). Hence these
locally systematic errors with such RE’s included highlights limitations of both
the Landsat and lidar estimates of FPC. The Landsat derived FPC estimates
are sensitive to evergreen herbaceous and woody foliage below 0.5 m and the
lidar derived FPC estimates are unreliable close to ground level, which is
largely due to uncertainty in the ground classification (Armston et al., 2009).

2 2
r = 0.67 r = 0.93
RMSE = 12.22 RMSE = 5.56
80 80
n = 110 n = 94
Lidar FPC (%)

Lidar FPC (%)

60 60

40 40

20 20

20 40 60 80 20 40 60 80
Landsat FPC (% ) Landsat FPC (% )

Figure 7. Comparison of lidar estimates of FPC with Landsat predictions. The lidar
data has been spatially aggregated to Regional Ecosystems and the error bars show
the RMSE. The left plot shows all RE’s sampled and the right plot shows RE’s with less
than 1% of their foliage < 0.5 m above the ground.

Conclusions and Future Research

This paper has described the data and methods currently used to derive
estimates of wooded extent and FPC from an annual time series of Landsat
imagery (from 1986 to 2008) in Queensland and NSW, Australia. The wooded
extent and FPC product presented has been developed and enhanced over
many years and is now considered a robust and operational product. Validation
2
of the FPC estimates showed strong relationships with field (r 0.78) and lidar
2
(r 0.93) derived estimates at the spatial scale of field plots and RE’s,
respectively. However bias has been observed in the cases of very sparse
FPC, RE’s with evergreen herbaceous foliage, and woody regrowth following
clearing.
The wooded extent and FPC product provides a core data set for use by State
governments in Queensland and NSW. Queensland mosaics have been
produced for the years 1999 and 2000 and annually from 2004 to 2009,
primarily for use in SLATS reporting. Currently, NSW have only produced the
2008 mosaic as a baseline map of wooded vegetation cover but additional
mosaics are planned. While most of the development of the wooded extent and
FPC product took place in Queensland, the application of the method to NSW
used nationally available input datasets and the image processing framework

13
presented by Schmidt and Gillingham (2008). This has demonstrated that it is
possible to implement operationally in other States in Australia.
Planned improvements related to operational production and validation of the
wooded extent and FPC product described in this paper include:
• Application of the method to Queensland Landsat images processed
with a radiance-based topographic correction (Gill et al., 2010b).
• Validation of wooded extent estimates in Queensland and NSW using
high spatial resolution satellite imagery (e.g. SPOT-5).
• Extension of field and lidar validation of FPC predictions to NSW. Data
acquisitions are currently underway.
• Correction of wooded extent commission error caused by improved
pastures using Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) Phased
Arrayed L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) imagery (Lucas et
al., 2010). A preliminary implementation of this has been completed for
Queensland vegetation management policy requirements.
Landsat high temporal resolution image time series are now freely available
4
from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) archive and offer an
unprecedented opportunity for consistent large area mapping and monitoring of
FPC. Current FPC mapping and monitoring research is focussing on spectral-
temporal unmixing of woody and herbaceous cover fractions from the high
temporal resolution USGS Landsat archive, using in part the techniques
developed by Scarth et al. (2010). This is anticipated to not only improve
estimates of FPC, but also enable detection of long-term trends including
woodland thickening, drought-related tree death, thinning, and woody regrowth
following clearing.

Acknowledgments
All of the SLATS and NSW DECCW teams are thanked for their efforts in
completing the Queensland and NSW classifications. Geoff Horn (NSW
DECCW) is thanked for assistance in preparing Figure 4. Craig Shephard and
Michael Schmidt are thanked for reviewing a draft version of the manuscript.

References
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