11th ICRS Abstract book - Nova Southeastern University

Poster Mini-Symposium 17: Emerging Techniques in Remote Sensing and Geospatial Analysis
17.585
A Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Campaign in Southwestern Puerto Rico With
Multiple Environmental Applications
James GOODMAN 1 , Carmen ZAYAS* 2 , Samuel ROSARIO 2 , Orian TZADIK 2 ,
Fernando GILBES 2
1 University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, Miami, FL, 2 University of Puerto Rico at
Mayaguez, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico
Airborne hyperspectral imagery was collected in southwestern Puerto Rico in 2007
covering extensive areas of aquatic and terrestrial habitats. The primary purpose of the
mission was to support ongoing research into improving the capacity for the assessment
and monitoring of benthic habitats using remote sensing technology. This includes
research on image calibration, resolution enhancement, water column correction, spectral
unmixing and the classification of benthic composition. The overall project has a
particular focus on coral reefs, but also includes applications related to seagrass, water
properties, metal contamination in mangroves and the distribution of terrestrial
vegetation. The acquisition area covers more than 2000 km 2 at a spatial resolution of 4 m,
as well as three aquatic science areas totaling 100 km 2 at 1, 2, 4 and 8 m resolution and a
terrestrial science area of 35 km 2 at 1 and 4 m resolution. The science areas represent
regions where extensive coincident fieldwork was conducted as groundtruth, and the
multi-resolution collection is being used to investigate spatial scaling issues associated
with spectral unmixing and to identify appropriate resolutions for local and landscape
level reef analysis. In addition to the lead project team from the University of Puerto Rico
at Mayagüez, a collection of researchers from other universities and federal agencies also
participated in both the field data collection and image analysis efforts. This collaborative
approach expanded the availability of instrumentation and expertise, and also allowed us
to address a greater number of scientific questions and application driven objectives. We
present an overview of the mission and provide specific examples of the data that was
collected and the image products being produced. These examples are used to illustrate
the enhanced reef analysis tools that can be derived using hyperspectral imagery.
17.586
Use Of Geospatial Technologies in The Assessment Of Coral Reefs And Abalone
Distribution in Sagay Marine Reserve, Central Philippines
Armi May TORRECHILLA 1 , Armi May TORRECHILLA* 1
1 Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand
The main objective of this research is to assess the status of coral reefs and the abundance
of abalone in Sagay marine reserve that would serve as baseline information for the local
government of Sagay, Negros Occidental, Philippines. To achieve this, benthic maps
(coming from the July 2005 atmospherically and geometrically corrected Aster image)
were produced from which geospatial technologies as remote sensing, GIS and GPS were
used as primary tools to produce the benthic habitat maps. These maps were classified
with the aid of image processing techniques such as band ratio, principal component
analysis and water column correction algorithm. Groundtruth and results from the
multivariate classification of the field data were used as training area for the classification
of the satellite image and that 8 different habitat types were successfully identified. Post
classification and contextual editing produced a final output of an image accuracy of
58.71%.
Reef habitat map showing 4 different zones ranging from very good to damaged zone
were produced using the ratio of live and dead corals based on the criteria developed by
Thailand’s Phuket Marine Biological Center.
Most of the abalones prefer habitats of dead corals with algae and rubble-algae zones.
Furthermore, finding for the potential suitable sites for the abalone was done by
considering the factors on habitat type, depth and sea surface temperature data. Also, one
premise can be inferred in that a preferred habitat can only be an area to have been
known by the abalone to reside on.
17.587
A Hyperspectral, Remote-Sensing Approach To Spectral Discrimination Of Marine
Habitats At Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia
Nicole PINNEL* 1 , Halina KOBRYN 1 , Thomas HEEGE 2 , Matt HARVEY 1 , Lynnath
BECKLEY 1
1 Environmental Science, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia, 2 EOMAP
GmbH&Co KG, D-82205 Gilching, Germany
Optical remote-sensing techniques, especially hyperspectral sensors, provide an non-invasive
and cost-effective approach to mapping and monitoring the condition of reefs over large areas
because of their capability to identify reef components on the basis of their spectral response.
The aim of this study is to develop a reliable and repeatable procedure for mapping submerged
coral reefs using airborne hyperspectral data. Spectral reflectance of corals, macro-algae and
sediment were measured underwater with an OceanOptics2000 spectro-radiometer. These
spectra were used for development of algorithms for automated applications to image
classification. A genetic algorithm technique was used to determine optimal waveband
combinations (including derivatives) for identification of substrate types. Initial results show
that in situ reflectance spectra of reef substrates were significantly different for various spectral
wavelengths. Using a linear discriminant analysis, the in situ spectra of six benthic groups
(branching, digitate and tabulate Acropora, massive corals (e.g. Porites), submassive corals
(e.g. Pocillopora) and macro-algae) could be classified to 90 % accuracy with as few as six
bands. A classification of major habitat groups was applied to airborne hyperspectral data from
HyMap acquired in November 2005 and April 2006 over the Yardie Creek area at Ningaloo
Reef. The images were corrected for atmospheric, air-water interface and water column effects
using the Modular Inversion & Processing System. This removes subjectivity from the
classification and approaches an automated classification allowing for improved transferability
to other reefs and monitoring applications. The retrieved bottom albedo image was used to
classify the benthos, generating a detailed map of benthic habitats, followed by accuracy
assessment. The outputs of multi-temporal image analysis contain percent cover of corals,
macro-algae and sediment. Results indicate that the spectral response of corals can be
determined to 10 m depth and shows that hyperspectral remote sensing techniques offer great
potential in mapping coral reefs.
17.588
Changes in Spectral Reflectance in Response To Salinity Variation in siderastrea
Radians From Florida Bay, Florida Usa.
Michael DURAKO* 1 , Kathryn CHARTRAND 1
1 Biology & Marine Biology, Univ. N. Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC
Spectral reflectance (R) of coral reefs is an apparent optical property that is widely used to
distinguish these communities in remote sensing assessments. In this study R’s of Sidereastrea
radians collected from five basins in Florida Bay were measured at the termination of a 2-week
salinity (30, 20, 15, 10) versus population mesocosm experiment. The five basin populations
represented a spatial and freshwater-land influence gradient from northeast (estuarine-tohypersaline)
to southwest (marine) Florida Bay. Spectral reflectances generally increased with
decreased salinities with the greatest increases occurring in the more marine populations. The
marine populations also exhibited the “brown” reflectance spectra mode while the more
estuarine populations exhibited predominantly “blue” reflectance spectra. Two of the interior
basin populations exhibited spectral shifts from “blue” to “brown” in response to low salinity
treatments. Non-metric multidimensional scaling analyses indicated stronger salinity-based
versus population-based clustering of the reflectance spectra. Thus, while coral R may be
independent of taxonomic or geographic differences, reduced salinity does affect this parameter
in S. radians from this marginal coral habitat.
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