Land Cover Map for Multifunctional Landscapes of Taita Taveta County, Kenya, Based on Sentinel-1 Radar, Sentinel-2 Optical, and Topoclimatic Data

Taita Taveta County (TTC) is one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots in highlands with some megafaunas lowlands. Detailed mapping terrestrial ecosystem whole county global significance for conservation. Here, we present a land cover map 2020 based on satellite observations, machine learning algorithm, and reference database accuracy assessment. For production processing chain, temporal metrics from Sentinel-1 Sentinel-2 (such as median, quantiles, interquartile range), vegetation indices (normalized difference index, tasseled cap greenness, wetness), topographic (elevation, slope, aspect), mean annual rainfall were used predictors gradient tree boost classification model. Reference sample points which collected field to guide collection additional high spatial resolution imagery training validation The uncertainty area estimates at 95% confidence interval assessed using sample-based statistical inference. has an overall 81 ± 2.3% it freely accessible use planners, conservation managers, researchers.