Immediate disturbances induced by tropical cyclone Fani on the coastal forest landscape of eastern India: A geospatial analysis

摘要: Abstract An extremely severe tropical cyclone Fani made its landfall on 3rd May, 2019 along the coastal region of Odisha, India causing profound damage to natural and human resources. This study examines immediate effects vegetation dynamics patterns canopy gap formation in Balukhand Wildlife Sanctuary this region. Sentinel 2A data pre post-Fani scenarios were used derive Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) relevant landscape metrics patch class levels for forest from coast (zone A) inland C). Results showed that even maximum NDVI values post-cyclone scenario either less than or equal mean pre-cyclone most grids three zones. Among twenty grids, was identified seven mostly covering western parts owing high exploitative interventions. Species like Casuarina equisetifolia Eucalyptus globulus had suffered most. The individual as well combined interactions land cover found have significantly strong metric (p  1 ha area; > 400 m perimeter) multiple tiny patches but canopies zone B C primarily perforated through multitudes tiny, irregular cum amorphous gaps. Zone-wise ecological restoration recommended mitigate statistically significant losses vegetated (p