AusCover is a national program that produces standardized remote sensing data products for Australian environments from satellite, airborne, and field data. It has multiple nodes around Australia that focus on different data products and research. AusCover provides remote sensing data, tools, and expertise to support studies of landcover, vegetation structure, fire dynamics, and other environmental monitoring applications.

1. AusCover
Remote
sensing
for
Australian
environments
Dr
Bek
Christensen
www.auscover.org.au

2. AusCover
Produc1on
and
delivery
of
na#onally
consistent
long-­‐1me
series
of
satellite-­‐based
biophysical
map
products
and
next
genera1on
remote
sensing
research
data
that
is
validated
for
Australian
condi#ons.

3. Remote
Sensing
Data
Delivery
Backbone
• Solving
data
formats,
interoperability,
data-­‐policy,
• Physical
storage,
efficient
delivery
to
end-­‐users
etc.
Data
Produc;on
Network
• Na1onally-­‐consistent,
standard
biophysical
data
products,
• Metadata
and
technical
support
documents
• Specialised
space-­‐borne,
airborne
&
in-­‐situ
research-­‐grade
data
Ground
Valida;on
Program
and
Instrumenta;on
• Set
na1onal
standards
&
field
valida1on
protocols
• AusPlots,
SuperSites
and
Environmental
transects
etc.
• Interna1onal
Benchmarking
How
we
work
–
program
structure

4. Perth
Node-­‐
not
ac;ve
Surface
Reflectance
Products,
Hyperspectral
data,
atmospheric
Correc;on
ancillary
data;
Field
Valida;on
Data
from
Other
Na1onal
Agencies
And
Interna1onal
Space
Agencies
and
Collaborators
How
we
work
–
na1onal
network
Hobart
Node
UAV
–
mul;&
hyperspectral,
thermal
Melbourne
Node
Gridded
Climatology
Data
Airborne
Data
and
in-­‐situ
Sensor
data.
Adelaide
Node
Frac;onal
Land-­‐Cover
in
Rangelands
+
Field
Valida;on
Canberra
Node
Leaf-­‐Area
Index/FPAR
Product
Frac;onal
Cover
Dynamic
Land
Cover
Map
Airborne
Data
products
Sydney
Node
Time-­‐Series
Vegeta;on
Indexes
Phenology
Products
con;nental
+
In-­‐situ,
Valida;on
Brisbane
Node
Foliage
Projected
Cover
Airborne
Data
Products
Field
Data
&
Valida;on
Darwin
Node
Burnt-­‐Area
and
Bushfire
Products
and
Valida;on

5. User
Reference
Group
Current
AusCover
User
Advisory
Group
membership:
Dr
John
Leys
(OEH)
Dr
Shan1
Reddy
(DoE)
Dr
Dan
Tindall
(DSITI)
Dr
Michele
Barson
(Dept
of
Ag)
Dr
Peter
Stone
(CSIRO)
Prof
Phil
Tickle
(CRCSI)
Dr
Stephen
Roxburgh
(CSIRO)
Dr
Andrew
Edwards
(CDU)
Dr
Brendan
McAtee
Dr
Wendy
Thompson
Dr
Stephen
van
Leeuwen
(DoPWS)
Dr
Lalage
Cherry
(DoE
-­‐
ERIN)

6. Infrastructure
• Data
products
–
satellite,
airborne,
field
• Data
delivery
and
access
• Tools
and
protocols
• Networks
and
exper1se

7. Landcover
dynamics
and
phenology
• Frac1onal
cover
• Persistent
green
• Phenology

8. Vegeta1on
Structure
• Biomass
–
library
published,
map
coming
soon
• Height
• fPAR,
LAI
Biomass
field
data

9. Fire
dynamics
and
impacts
• Burned
area
• Grassland
curing
• Hotspots
Burnt
area
map
–
different
colours
represent
different
dates
of
burning

10. Cal/val
• Star
transects
+
tree
structure
• Terrestrial
LiDAR
(TLS)
• Hemispherical
photos
• Airborne
hyperspectral
and
LiDAR
Hemi
photo,
Chowilla
TLS
scan,
Tumbarumba

11. Other
environmental
data
• Water
vapour
• Cloud
• Surface
reflectance
• Rainfall
• Air
temperature
• Water
vapour
pressure
• Solar
radia1on
• Land
surface
temperature
Daily
solar
radia1on
Daily
rainfall

12. Data
delivery
–
field
portal
hVp://qld.auscover.org.au/public/html/field/

13. Data
delivery
h^p://auscover.org.au/data/product-­‐list

14. Data
delivery
Links
to
detailed
metadata
(Xwiki),
data
download,
visualisa1on
tool
and
status
updates
as
relevant

15. Data
delivery
–
metadata
lis1ng
E.g.-­‐
h^p://www.auscover.org.au/xwiki/bin/view/Product+pages/Landsat
+Frac1onal+Cover
• Preview
image
• Link
to
data
• Data
licence
and
access
rights
• Alternate
1tle
• Abstract/summary
• Spa1al
extent
• Temporal
extent
• Point
of
contact
• Credit
• Keywords
• Data
quality
• Valida1on
status
• Related
products
• References
• Algorithm
summary
• Version
history
• Metadata
history
Metadata
includes:

16. Protocols
and
tools
• Data
handling
and
processing
standards
• ‘Good
prac1ce
guidelines’
for
field
cal/
val
• Geo-­‐Wiki

17. Perth
Node-­‐
not
ac;ve
Surface
Reflectance
Products,
Hyperspectral
data,
atmospheric
Correc;on
ancillary
data;
Field
Valida;on
Data
from
Other
Na1onal
Agencies
And
Interna1onal
Space
Agencies
and
Collaborators
Hobart
Node
UAV
–
mul;&
hyperspectral,
thermal
Melbourne
Node
Gridded
Climatology
Data
Airborne
Data
and
in-­‐situ
Sensor
data.
Adelaide
Node
Frac;onal
Land-­‐Cover
in
Rangelands
+
Field
Valida;on
Canberra
Node
Leaf-­‐Area
Index/FPAR
Product
Frac;onal
Cover
Dynamic
Land
Cover
Map
Airborne
Data
products
Sydney
Node
Time-­‐Series
Vegeta;on
Indexes
Phenology
Products
con;nental
+
In-­‐situ,
Valida;on
Brisbane
Node
Foliage
Projected
Cover
Airborne
Data
Products
Field
Data
&
Valida;on
Darwin
Node
Burnt-­‐Area
and
Bushfire
Products
and
Valida;on
Networks
and
exper1se

18. In
development
(2016-­‐2017)
• UAV
(mul1spectral,
hyperspectral,
thermal,
LiDAR)
• New
data
streams,
e.g.
Himawari-­‐8,
RADAR,
Sen1nel1&2
• Improved
user-­‐friendliness
–
online
tools
to
visualise
and
explore
data
products

19. 16/17
and
beyond
• Reinvigora1ng
na1onal
network
• Improving
useability
for
non-­‐research
audience
• Engaging
user
community
now
to
understand
needs
for
the
future…

20. Links
AusCover
website
–
www.auscover.org.au
AusCover
data
products
list
-­‐
h^p://auscover.org.au/data/product-­‐list
Field
data
portal
-­‐
h^p://qld.auscover.org.au/public/html/field/
AusCover
Geo-­‐Wiki
-­‐
h^p://www.geo-­‐wiki.org/branches/auscover/

21. Contacts
Bek
Christensen
–
Engagement,
r.christensen1@uq.edu.au
Alex
Held
–
Facility
Director,
alex.held@csiro.au
Ma^
Paget
–
Data
and
Systems
Coordinator,
ma^.paget@csiro.au