IMAGE FUSION APPLIED TO SATELLITE IMAGERY FOR THE IMPROVED MAPPING AND MONITORING OF CORAL REEFS: A PROPOSAL
A coral reef ecosystem, one of the most complex marine environmental systems on the planet, is defined as biologically diverse and immense. It plays an important role in maintaining a vast biological diversity for future generations and functions as an essential spawning, nursery, breeding and fee...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2012-07-01
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| Series: | The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences |
| Online Access: | https://www.int-arch-photogramm-remote-sens-spatial-inf-sci.net/XXXIX-B3/211/2012/isprsarchives-XXXIX-B3-211-2012.pdf |
| Summary: | A coral reef ecosystem, one of the most complex marine environmental systems on the planet, is defined as biologically diverse and
immense. It plays an important role in maintaining a vast biological diversity for future generations and functions as an essential
spawning, nursery, breeding and feeding ground for many kinds of marine species. In addition, coral reef ecosystems provide
valuable benefits such as fisheries, ecological goods and services and recreational activities to many communities. However, this
valuable resource is highly threatened by a number of environmental changes and anthropogenic impacts that can lead to reduced
coral growth and production, mass coral mortality and loss of coral diversity. With the growth of these threats on coral reef
ecosystems, there is a strong management need for mapping and monitoring of coral reef ecosystems. Remote sensing technology
can be a valuable tool for mapping and monitoring of these ecosystems. However, the diversity and complexity of coral reef
ecosystems, the resolution capabilities of satellite sensors and the low reflectivity of shallow water increases the difficulties to
identify and classify its features.
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This paper reviews the methods used in mapping and monitoring coral reef ecosystems. In addition, this paper proposes improved
methods for mapping and monitoring coral reef ecosystems based on image fusion techniques. This image fusion techniques will be
applied to satellite images exhibiting high spatial and low to medium spectral resolution with images exhibiting low spatial and high
spectral resolution. Furthermore, a new method will be developed to fuse hyperspectral imagery with multispectral imagery. The
fused image will have a large number of spectral bands and it will have all pairs of corresponding spatial objects. This will
potentially help to accurately classify the image data. Accuracy assessment use ground truth will be performed for the selected
methods to determine the quality of the information derived from image classification. The research will be applied to the Kuwait's
southern coral reefs: Kubbar and Um Al-Maradim. |
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| ISSN: | 1682-1750 2194-9034 |