Utilization of Bathymetry and Sea Surface Current Data for Coral Reef Habitats in The Karimunjawa Islands

Abstract

Coral reefs are a unique ecosystem found in tropical seas, one of which is Indonesia. Indonesia has many types of coral reefs, one of the most abundant types of coral reefs in Indonesia is Acropora Humilis and Montipora Aquituberculata. Acropora humilis lives at a depth of 15-35m, shaped like a plate with thin branches. Meanwhile, Montipora aquituberculata lives at a depth of 3-15 m. The deeper the location of this reef, the branches will be longer and open. the shallower, the shorter the branches. To determine the area of coral reefs, parameters can be used, namely bathymetry data and current velocity data. Bathymetry data and current velocity data were processed using the Kriging Interpolation. From the processing results, the depth value of Karimunjawa Islands waters is 0 – 76.06 masl, and the surface current velocity data for the Karimunjawa Islands is 0 – 0.55 m/s. The depth value is used to determine the coral reef habitat area of the two types of coral reefs studied, namely the coral reef type Montipora aquituberculata at a depth of 3-15 m and coral reef type Acropora humilis at a depth of 15-35 m. The value of the current velocity according to the coral reef habitat is 0.9 m/s while the value of the current velocity in the Karimunjawa Island is 0 – 0.55 m/s, it is said that the current value in Karimunjawa is suitable for the growth of coral reef habitat. The area obtained was found to be 878.268 Km2 of coral reef habitat area of Montipora aquituberculata and Acropora humilis.