A dataset of mangrove forest changes on Hainan Island based on GF-2 data during 2015–2019

Mangrove forests are wetland ecosystems in the coastal zone with important ecological and eco-economic service values. At the same time, mangrove forests are vulnerable ecosystems, being under threat from both natural and anthropogenic forces, so mangrove monitoring is a permanent task. The development of remote sensing technology has provided an efficient and convenient means for mangrove monitoring. In this study, we adopted a support vector machine (SVM) classification method with Gaussian radial kernel function, penalty factor of 100 and Gamma function 0f 0.022 to obtain a dataset of mangrove forest changes on Hainan Island from 2015 to 2019 by using Gaofen-2 (GF-2) data in 2015, 2017 and 2019 in combination with field survey data. The overall classification accuracy of this dataset is more than 99%, and the data volume is 58.7 MB. It can be used as the basic data for the analysis of spatial and temporal changes of mangrove forests. It can also provide decision-making support for the restoration, protection and management of mangrove wetland ecosystems, and facilitate the ecological environment supervision in Hainan Province.