A Preliminary Study on Benthic Mapping of Uljin Coast Based on Airborne Hyperspectral Imagery Towards the Whitening Detection

Abstract

Kim, W.; Kim, S.H.; Baek, S.-I.; Kim, H., and Oh, J., 2021. A preliminary study on benthic mapping of Uljin coast based on airborne hyperspectral imagery towards the whitening detection. In: Lee, J.L.; Suh, K.-S.; Lee, B.; Shin, S., and Lee, J. (eds.), Crisis and Integrated Management for Coastal and Marine Safety. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 114, pp. 464–468. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. This paper performed a preliminary investigation on the benthic identification methodology that is based on a semi-analytical optical model as a mean for detecting the whitening in the subtidal zone near Uljin, South Korea. Airborne hyperspectral images were acquired using a CASI-1500 sensor for the study area, and the preprocessing including radiometric, geometric, and atmospheric correction were applied to obtain subsurface remote sensing reflectance that is the input to the semi-analytical inversion method. Although the measured bottom reflectance was not available for the area, the experiment conducted with the typical substrate reflectance revealed the spatial distribution of bottom substrates in the area, with an implication to the whitening progress. It is concluded that a closure test with field-measured water quality variables and the collection of bottom substrate reflectance are warranted for more accurate substrate fraction estimates and the whitening detection.