Remote Sens. 2015, 7, 14360-14385; doi:10.3390/rs71114360 OPEN ACCESS remote sensing ISSN 2072-4292 www.mdpi.com/journal/remotesensing Article Satellite Images for Monitoring Mangrove Cover Changes in a Fast Growing Economic Region in Southern Peninsular Malaysia Kasturi Devi Kanniah 1,*, Afsaneh Sheikhi 1, Arthur P. Cracknell 2, Hong Ching Goh 3, Kian Pang Tan 1, Chin Siong Ho 4 and Fateen Nabilla Rasli 1 1 TropicalMap Research Group, Faculty of Geoinformation and Real Estate, UTM Palm Oil Research Centre, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Johor 81310, Malaysia; E-Mails:
[email protected] (A.S.);
[email protected] (K.P.T.);
[email protected] (F.N.R.) 2 Division of Electronic Engineering and Physics, University of Dundee, Dundee DDI 4HN, UK; E-Mail:
[email protected] 3 Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Built Environment, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia; E-Mail:
[email protected] 4 Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Built Environment, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Johor 81310, Malaysia; E-Mail:
[email protected] * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:
[email protected]; Tel.: +60-7553-0851 (ext. 30851). Academic Editors: Chandra Giri, Ioannis Gitas and Prasad S. Thenkabail Received: 6 August 2015 / Accepted: 13 October 2015 / Published: 29 October 2015 Abstract: Effective monitoring is necessary to conserve mangroves from further loss in Malaysia. In this context, remote sensing is capable of providing information on mangrove status and changes over a large spatial extent and in a continuous manner. In this study we used Landsat satellite images to analyze the changes over a period of 25 years of mangrove areas in Iskandar Malaysia (IM), the fastest growing national special economic region located in southern Johor, Malaysia.