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Coastal landcover change and the associated biomass trends in the mid-Atlantic sea-level rise hotspot

Climate change is driving worldwide landscape reorganization. In the coastal ecosystem, climate-driven sea level rise is forcing landward marsh migration and forest die-off, with potentially large consequences on coastal carbon balance. Here we used 30 m resolution Landsat images to study coastal landcover change from 1984 to 2020, and analyzed the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI, a proxy of plant biomass) trend between 1984 and 2020 in the mid-Atlantic sea level rise hotspot. Our study region stretches across the entire Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware Bay to encompass all areas between 0-5m above sea level (total area ~12,500 km2). Specifically, the data package includes 3 raster datasets derived from the Landsat images. All datasets cover the identical mid-Atlantic region and have identical spatial resolution of 30 m. The two landcover datasets, named as 'Landcover_year1984.tif' and'Landcover_year2020.tif', respectively refer to landcover map in 1984 and 2020. Each of the maps has 7 landcover classes differentiated by different integers, and they are: water (0), farmland (1), urban area(2), upland forest (3), transition forest (4), marsh (5) and sandbar (6). Both landcover maps were generated using a combination of random forest classification and manual delineation, and the resultswere validated with high-resolution aerial photos and satellite images with an overall mapping accuracybeyond 90%. The third raster dataset, named as 'NDVItrend_1984to2020.tif', is the NDVI trend map. The value of each 30 by 30 m pixel in the map represents the slope of the NDVI trendline estimated using annual peak-growing season NDVI images acquired between 1984 and 2020. Negative values in the dataset represent decreases of NDVI (i.e. biomass loss, or ecosystem browning) from 1984 and 2020,whereas positive values correspond to an increase of NDVI (i.e. biomass gain, or ecosystem greening)between 1984 and 2020. The data package is completed.