Spartina alterniflora aboveground biomass patterns from Landsat 5 TM imagery (1984-2011) and external driver data used in multivariate analysis.

We used Landsat 5 TM satellite imagery to derive aboveground biomass estimates for the three height classes (tall, medium, short) of Spartina alterniflora on the Centeral Georgia Coast. We used geospatial techniques to scale up in situ measurements of aboveground S. alterniflora aboveground biomass to landscape level estimates using 294 Landsat images acquired between 1984 to 2011. For each scene we extracted data from the same 63 sampling polygons, containing 1,222 pixels covering 1.1 million m^2. Using univariate and linear multiple regression tests, we compared Landsat derived biomass estimates for three S. alterniflora size classes against a suite of abiotic drivers. Drivers included monthly mean values for Altamaha River Discharge, Palmer Drought Severity Index, Standardized Precipitation Index, Mean Sea Level, Precipitation, and Temperature.