Pacific Atoll Vegetation Maps

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.