Continuous Global Mangrove Dynamics: Annual mangrove fractional canopy cover, 1984-2023

This dataset provides annual global mangrove fractional canopy cover (FCC) at 30 m spatial resolution for 1984-2023 (CGMD-AFCC30), derived from the Landsat archive. Owing to Zenodo’s per-record storage limit, this record includes only the 1984-1992 data. Annual datasets for the remaining years are available through the links below:

1. 1993-2001
2. 2002-2011
3. 2012-2023

The FCC data are provided in GeoTIFF format using integer storage, representing canopy cover in percentage (%). Each pixel value indicates the proportion of vegetation canopy cover within the 30-m Landsat pixel. The data are tiled by 1° × 1° grid cells, and each file is named following the convention:
FCC_YYYY_LON_LAT.tif, where YYYY is the year, and LON and LAT represent the longitude and latitude of the lower-left corner of the tile.

The FCC dataset also provides values for non-mangrove coastal and terrestrial regions to serve as background reference; however, users are advised to interpret non-mangrove areas with caution. For most applications, it is recommended to mask or clip the FCC data using the corresponding annual mangrove extent before analysis.

Because of the large data volume, direct access through Google Earth Engine is recommended for efficient use. An example script is provided here.

For visualization or simple analysis, please use our Google Earth Engine app: https://zhenzhang.users.earthengine.app/view/globalmangrovedynamic.

The dataset is associated with Zhang et al. (2026), Unexpected expansion and regrowth in Earth’s mangrove forests over the past four decades. Science, accepted.

For citation at this stage, please cite this preprint: Zhang, Z., Murray, N., Song, X. P., Bunting, P., Worthington, T., Fatoyinbo, L., ... & Friess, D. A. (2025). Unexpected canopy gain in Earth’s mangrove forests linked to natural expansion and regrowth. EarthArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31223/X5XQ82.