Can Coral Reefs Be Monitored from Space?

Petra Philipson; Tommy Lindell

doi:10.1579/0044-7447-32.8.586

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Petra Philipson,^* Tommy Lindell^**

^*Petra Philipson is working as a researcher at the Centre for Image Analysis and is a former research and development engineer at the National Land Survey of Sweden. She has been working with environmental applications of aquatic remote sensing since 1998 and successfully defended her PhD thesis in March 2003. Her address: Centre for Image Analysis, Uppsala University, Lägerhyddv. 3, SE-752 37 Uppsala, Sweden. petra@cb.uu.se
^**Tommy Lindell is an associate professor in aquatic remote sensing at Uppsala University and a former director of the Centre for Image Analysis in Uppsala, Sweden. He is also affiliate associate professor at the University of Washington, Seattle. He has over 20 years of experience in the aquatic remote sensing field, and doing research in tropical waters, mainly in the Caribbean since late 1980s. He has published over 80 scientific papers. His address: Centre for Image Analysis, Uppsala University, Lägerhyddv. 3, SE-752 37 Uppsala, Sweden. tommy@cb.uu.se

Abstract

The dramatic bleaching events on the coral reefs recently have enhanced the need for environmental monitoring. Remote sensing is an important constituent for monitoring of reefs, and an invaluable complement to field observations. This paper discusses the possibilities and limitations of present high resolution satellites for mapping and monitoring coral reefs. The sensors with the best spatial and radiometric resolution available today, e.g. IKONOS, can be useful for mapping and monitoring of reefs, but they are too costly for global surveys. However, our coral bleaching studies indicate that massive bleaching could be detected even from satellites with lower resolution, like Landsat, SPOT, and IRS. They could also be useful for coarser, from a spatial and thematic point of view, global mapping and updating purposes. A more detailed monitoring requires both better spatial resolution and spectral resolution than today's sensors. In the future, it is necessary to construct a more reef specific sensor with a few specially selected narrow bands and a good spatial, radiometric and temporal resolution.

Citation Download Citation

Petra Philipson and Tommy Lindell "Can Coral Reefs Be Monitored from Space?," AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment 32(8), 586-593, (1 December 2003). https://doi.org/10.1579/0044-7447-32.8.586

Published: 1 December 2003

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