Estimation of Mangrove Fractional Canopy Cover using Sentinel-2A Imagery

Monitoring the condition of mangrove forests is very important to support effective management and protect from forests degradation. One important biophysical aspect for assessing mangrove degradation is the fractional canopy cover (Fcover), which shows the percentage of the canopy cover over a specified ground area. The location of this research is Bedul Mangrove which is an ecotourism area located in Alas Purwo National Park, East Java, Indonesia. The aim of this study is to estimate and map the mangrove Fcover in the Bedul ecotourism area using Sentinel-2A imagery. A field survey was carried out to measure in-situ mangrove forest canopy using a hemispherical camera. Semi-empirical approach was used for Fcover modeling of Sentinel-2A image. A Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI) image was used as a proxy for Fcover modelling from Sentinel-2A. Statistical analysis of correlation and regression was performed to determine the strength, shape, and direction of the relationship between the pairs of Fcover field values and the SAVI pixel values. The modeling result shows that the Fcover ranges from 0 to 0.91 (n: 24). Mangrove canopy cover in this location is dominated by dense canopy cover classes which indicate that the mangrove forest is in good condition.