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Change detection of satellite imagery for reconnaissance of stressed tropical corals. 2000. LeDrew, E.; Wulder, M.A.; Holden, H. Pages 2679-2683 in International Geoscience & Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARRS), Honolulu, HI. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Piscataway, NJ.
Abstract
Rather than attempt to remotely identify specific benthic habitats with similar optical properties, a more appropriate use of available satellite technology may be to examine benthic homogeneity of a coral reef ecosystem with the hypothesis that a healthy reef will display great heterogeneity, but a dead algae-covered reef will be relatively homogeneous. Such an approach to ecosystem analysis could prove to be efficient with respect to time, human resources, and data storage, and would produce results that could be directly applied to a realistic management scheme with “minimal regrets”. In this study, a large database of in situ measurements enabled examination of between- and within-group variation of broadly-defined categories of substrate type. Analyses revealed limited spectral discrimination capabilities however, a measure of spatial autocorrelation used in a case study of SPOT imagery shows potential in evaluating the well-being of a coral reef ecosystem.