Mangrove Extent and Change Mapping of Muaragembong from 1990 to 2020 using Google Earth Engine (GEE)

Abstract

Mangrove ecosystems have crucial functions in the sustainability of coastal areas. However, land conversion from mangrove forest to other land cover is unavoidable - including mangrove forest areas in Muaragembong, Kabupaten Bekasi, West Java, Indonesia. Muaragembong has been facing physical and anthropogenic threats to its sustainability. Mangrove forest monitoring is, therefore, fundamental to determine the preventive and responsive actions. This study analyzed the mangrove cover changes of Muaragembong for the last 30 years (1990–2020) using Google Earth Engine (GEE). The extraction of 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020 images was from Landsat 5 TM, Landsat 7 ETM+, Landsat 5 TM, and Landsat 8 OLI respectively. This study used Mangrove Vegetation Index (MVI) to enhance the images, which considers the greenness and humidity in its equation. The results showed that the mangrove areas in Muaragembong decreased from 1991 to 2000 (41.16%), gradually increased from 2000 to 2010 (20.05%), strongly increased from 2010 to 2020 (181.39%). The mangrove area of Muaragembong was 550.52 hectares in 1991, 323.91 hectares in 2000, 388.85 hectares in 2010, and 1,094 hectares in 2020. The trends followed the presence and absence of mangrove conservation actions in the given year or period.