Supporting Data and Google Earth Engine Workflow for "Spatial Trajectories of Spontaneous Vegetation Development in a Post-Mining Landscape"

This dataset contains the supporting data and reproducible Google Earth Engine workflow for the study “Spatial Trajectories of Spontaneous Vegetation Development in a Post-Mining Landscape”. The study investigates spatial vegetation dynamics within a 12.24 km² old iron-ore dump near Rudny, Kostanay Region, northern Kazakhstan, using standardized July Sentinel-2 Level-2A observations from 2021 to 2026. The repository includes the study-area geometry (AOI), metadata and product identifiers for the selected Sentinel-2 scenes, annual NDVI distribution statistics, areas of spectral vegetation states, the 2021–2026 state-transition matrix, landscape-trajectory statistics, six-year persistence statistics, pixel-level NDVI slope summaries, threshold-sensitivity results, derived geospatial rasters, a data dictionary, and the Google Earth Engine analysis workflow. Original Sentinel-2 imagery is not redistributed because it is publicly available through the Copernicus Sentinel programme. The supplied scene identifiers and analysis workflow enable the satellite observations used in the study to be traced and the remote-sensing analysis to be reproduced. Spectral vegetation states are used as spatial descriptors and should not be interpreted as direct measurements of vegetation cover, biomass, floristic composition, or formal successional stages. Pixel-level NDVI slope classes are descriptive and do not represent pixel-level tests of statistical significance. The dataset is provided to support transparency, reproducibility, and reuse of the spatial analyses reported in the associated manuscript.