Aboveground Biomass High-Resolution Maps for Selected US Tidal Marshes, 2015

This dataset provides maps of aboveground tidal marsh biomass (g/m2) at 30 m resolution for six estuarine regions of the conterminous United States: Cape Cod, MA; Chesapeake Bay, MD, Everglades, FL; Mississippi Delta, LA; San Francisco Bay, CA; and Puget Sound, WA. Estuarine and palustrine emergent tidal marsh areas were based on a 2010 NOAA Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP) map. Aboveground biomass maps were generated from a random forest model driven by Landsat vegetation indices and a national scale dataset of field-measured aboveground biomass. The final model, driven by six Landsat vegetation indices, with the soil adjusted vegetation index as the most important, successfully predicted biomass for a range of marsh plant functional types defined by height, leaf angle, and growth form. Biomass can be converted to carbon stocks using a mean plant carbon content of 44.1%.