The accuracy of image-based individual tree crown detection and delineation across vegetation types

Understanding vegetation response to environmental change requires accurate, long-term data on vegetation condition (VC). We evaluated existing satellite VC datasets over Australia and found them lacking, so we developed a new VC dataset for Australia, AusENDVI. It can be used for studying Australia's changing vegetation dynamics and downstream impacts on the carbon and water cycles, and it provides a reliable foundation for further research into the drivers of vegetation change.

Greenness of the Amazon forest fluctuated during the 2015–2016 drought, but no satisfactory explanation has been found. Based on water storage, temperature, and atmospheric moisture demand, we developed a method to delineate the regions where forests were under stress. These drought-affected regions were mainly identified at the beginning and end of the drought, resulting in below-average greenness. For the months in between, without stress, greenness responded positively to intense sunlight.

The GloLakes dataset provides historical and near-real-time time series of relative (i.e. storage change) and absolute (i.e. total stored volume) storage for more than 27 000 lakes worldwide using multiple sources of satellite data, including laser and radar altimetry and optical remote sensing. These data can help us understand the influence of climate variability and anthropogenic activities on water availability and system ecology over the last 4 decades.

Australia's land-based ecosystems play a critical role in controlling the variability in the global land carbon sink. However, uncertainties in the methods used for quantifying carbon fluxes limit our understanding. We develop high-resolution estimates of Australia's land carbon fluxes using machine learning methods and find that Australia is, on average, a stronger carbon sink than previously thought and that the seasonal dynamics of the fluxes differ from those described by other methods.