Abstract
High spatial resolution benthic habitat information is essential for coral reef protection and coastal environmental management. Satellite-based shallow benthic composition mapping offers a more efficient approach than traditional field measurements, especially given the advancements in high spatial and temporal resolution satellite imagery. The Planet Dove satellite constellation now has more than 150 instruments in orbit that offer daily coverage at high spatial resolution (3.7 m). The Dove constellation provides regularly updated imagery that can minimize cloud in tropical oceans where dense cloud cover persists. Daily image acquisition also provides an opportunity to detect time-sensitive changes in shallow benthic habitats following coral bleaching events, storms, and other disturbances. We developed an object-based coral reef habitat mapping approach for Dove and similar multispectral satellites that provides bathymetry estimation, bottom reflectance retrieval, and object-based classification to identify different benthic compositions in shallow coastal environments. We tested our approach in three study sites in the Dominican Republic using 18 Dove images. Benthic composition classification results were validated by field measurements (overall accuracy = 82%). Bathymetry and bottom reflectance significantly contributed to identifying benthic habitat classes with similar surface reflectance. This new object-based approach can be effectively applied to map and manage coral reef habitats.
Highlights
Coral reefs and associated shallow coastal ecosystems are among the most productive and vulnerable in the world [1]
The high-resolution bathymetry information generated from Planet Dove satellite images was consistent with known spatial variations from shallow to deep coral reef regions and out to the deep ocean
These satellite-derived bathymetry measurements supported the mapping of benthic geomorphologic zones, such as shallow reef crest, which are found along the coast of southeastern Dominican Republic (Figure 3)
Summary
Coral reefs and associated shallow coastal ecosystems are among the most productive and vulnerable in the world [1]. Effective protection and management of coral reefs rely heavily on accurate and up-to-date spatially-explicit information on shallow benthic habitats [2]. Traditional labor-intensive field surveys offer point and transect records that can only be applied to small areas [3]. While field-based methods can collect detailed information along coral reef transects, these data are often limited to very small areas and are inadequate for monitoring large areas [4]. Satellite remote sensing technology, when combined with field survey data, provides a solution to repeatedly map and monitor coral reef benthic habitats over large geographic areas [5]. A common trade-off of remote sensing is its lower accuracy compared to field surveys
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