An analysis of temporal change at rangeland monitoring sites using remote sensing in northwest Australia

This paper discusses examples in northwest Australia where site data was analysed with cover indices derived from time-series Landsat satellite data, to interpret trend and land condition in rangelands. Comparison of timeseries data over 18 years, relative to a suite of sites and stratified land type, revealed differences in cover responses as a record of a site's history. Ground sites represented a range of land conditions. Over several consecutive years of ground sampling, differences in the cover indices could be attributed to seasonal change, grazing impact, fire, or unmapped landscape heterogeneity. By relating these data in the short-term, insight was gained into the response of systems in various condition over nearly two decades. Using these site relationships, confident extrapolation of landscape trend and condition from satellite data across the broad landscape is possible.