Abstract for presentation at The 13th Australasian Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Conference

Tropical Cyclone Larry caused widespread destruction of infrastructure and agricultural crops, when it crossed the Far North Queensland coast on 20 March 2006. The Operation Recovery Task Force requested assistance from Geoscience Australia to survey the cyclone’s impact on the region’s primary industry. This study was part of a multi-agency effort to assist with recovery of the affected region. A prolonged period of cloudy conditions over the cyclone affected area restricted the use of optical satellite imagery for assessment of damage to major agricultural crops in the region. Absence of cloud free optical imagery prompted the use of a SAR image acquired by the RADARSAT satellite on 25 March 2006, to be used in conjunction with ground truth data for assessing crop damage in the study area. The very high SAR backscatter response from banana plantations enabled their identification on the SAR image, however unambiguous identification of other crop types was not possible. Levels of damage obtained by spatial interpolation of ground truth data were combined with area estimates derived from the SAR image and land use maps to provide damage levels and corresponding extents for banana plantations in Johnstone, the Shire most affected by the cyclone. Area estimates of banana plantations obtained from the integrated SAR image and land use maps were more precise than those obtained from the land use maps alone. The SAR based estimate of area under banana plantations was within 5% of area estimates reported for Johnstone Shire.