anonymous 16352 Canopy gap distribution in South African mangrove forests from 1997 to 2020 Agyekum, Michael Kyei; Zimmer, Martin; Mackay, Fiona; Weerts, Steven; Helfer, Véronique (2024): Canopy gap distribution in South African mangrove forests from 1997 to 2020 [dataset]. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.965469 The dataset contains information on the status, sizes, and geographical range of canopy gaps in South Africa's largest mangrove forest stand at uMhlathuze, which accounts for 80% of the total mangrove coverage in the country, near Richards Bay. It also includes a smaller mangrove stand in Beachwood near Durban in the KwaZulu-Natal province. The dataset was created using a combination of very high-resolution satellite images (e.g., "CNES/AIRBUS," "Maxar," and "NASA" satellite imageries accessed through Google Earth Pro Version 7.3.3) and aerial photographs (CSIR Aerial Photograph) that were delineated using on-screen digitizing polygon tools in Google Earth Pro Version 7.3.3 and create feature polygon geometry tool in ArcMap saved into a single shapefile. The gaps were labeled with the status of "open," "recovering," or "closed" to identify each gap and document its development over time. The gap geographical coordinates and gap size were extracted using the "calculate" geometry tool within ArcMap 10.5. 16360 https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.965469 2024-05-22T07:31:38+0000 2024 21391 14321 21392 21393 14171 21394 21395 21397 21398