Automated High-Resolution Time Series Mapping of Mangrove Forests Damaged by Hurricane Irma in Southwest Florida

Abstract

In September of 2017, Hurricane Irma made landfall within the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve of southwest Florida (USA) as a category 3 storm with winds in excess of 200 km h−1. We mapped the extent of the hurricane’s impact on coastal land cover with a seasonal time series of satellite imagery. Very high-resolution (i.e., 2). Approximately 35% (1.7 km2) of this loss recovered one year after Hurricane Irma. The approach completed the mapping approximately 200 times faster than existing methods, illustrating the ease with which regional high-resolution mapping may be accomplished efficiently.

Keywords

• wetlands
• WorldView-2
• sunglint
• supercomputing
• Rookery Bay
• National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR)