LANDSAT Pathfinder Project Operations are driven by science goals of land cover change detection, global carbon cycle and biogeochemistry, but also encompass data management activities that form part of Earth Observing System/Data Information System version 0, IGBP DIS and international forest management programs.
The Australian Pathfinder site is situated in South Eastern New South Wales. This site has been developed and made available by the Department of Geography at the Australian National University Canberra, Australia.
The Pathfinder site includes the whole catchment of the Clyde River, adjacent coastal areas, the southern limit of the Sydney Basin, and two important wetlands - the Clyde River / Cullendulla Creek estuaries and St. Georges Basin. The area covers three main types of landform; a coastal lowland, a hill belt, and a mountain belt. The coastal plain is the most complex belt and consists of rolling and undulating country with restricted plains. The coast itself is characterised by long sandy bays interspersed by sections of rugged cliff. There are a great many estuarine lagoons formed by barrier beaches across the mouths of drowned river valleys. There are some limited areas of igneous rock intrusion but the area is largely sedimentary (Ordovician and Permian). The hill belt is made up of dissected forested hills on folded (Ordovician) sedimentary rocks. Altitudes rarely exceed 300m. The mountain belt consists of steep, rugged, dissected plateaux in (Permian) sedimentary rock. Rivers here flow in deep, narrow valleys with some steep cliffs. There are some limited areas of basalt.
The predominant vegetation of the area is sclerophyll open-forest within which 68 communities have been recognised. The other communities are treated as components in various community complexes. The riverine forests which contain a sclerophyll component and rain forest lack a particularly clear set of environmental conditions and constitute an intermediate category.
Broadly the sclerophyll forests can be considered in three categories. The coastal forests are distinguished by Eucalyptus gummifera on 'poorer' sites and E. maculata on more mesic situations. The upland forests are distinguished by E. fastigata and E. mullerana and occur above about 250m. Other community complexes of significance in the area are the dune sere, the estuarine communities, particularly those with mangroves and Allocasuarina glauca, a variety of freshwater and brackish swamps, and heath vegetation on the Permian sandstones in the north. The riverine forests are composed predominantly of eucalypts but frequently the rain forests behave as gallery forests and monospecific stands of Backhousia myrtifolia may occur on the banks of narrow streams.
Land use in the area ranges from active forestry operations, national parks, agriculture (particularly on the coastal plain) to urban. The towns of Ulladulla and Milton are in the central part of the dataset.
The Australian National University has its KIOLOA field station in the area and a smaller field station, The Edge, immediately adjacent to the western boundary of the area. The area is within easy driving distance of both Canberra and Sydney. There are a large number of papers and theses published on aspects of the area. It is an area of continuing research activity. The Pathfinder dataset includes a Digital Elevation Model, Geology, Land Systems and Various Climatic Data for the area. Site P.I. is Dr. Brian Lees, ANU. (Brian.Lees@anu.edu.au).