Suitability of spectral remote sensing for coral reef surveying, monitoring and mapping

Many researchers consider coral reefs the "rainforests of the oceans" because they cover such a small area and yet provide homes for literally thousands of unique marine species. A multispectral or hyperspectral remote sensing satellite, with its spectral coverage, offers significant advantages over traditional methodologies for coral reef surveying, monitoring, and mapping. This paper presents research into the suitability of spectral remote sensing for coral reef surveying, monitoring and mapping using the SeaWiFS multispectral ocean color data for illustration. We describe the information technology developed to support this research and provide an overview of the database driven web application, which was developed to allow live interaction with the data. A database of in situ observations from the ReefBase web site (www.reefbase.org) was used as validation data as part of this investigation. This discussion includes details on the XML representation of the satellite and in situ data and metadata. It also introduces a dynamic Java Visualization applet developed to allow the users to visually interact with the data. The paper concludes with a discussion of the suitability and additional advantages of using hyperspectral remote sensing technology for this application that exploits the full spectral characteristics of submerged coral reefs.