Mapping Sub-Metre 3D Land-Sea Coral Reefscapes Using Superspectral WorldView-3 Satellite Stereoimagery

Abstract

Shallow coral reefs ensure a wide portfolio of ecosystem services, from fish provisioning to tourism, that support more than 500 million people worldwide. The protection and sustainable management of these pivotal ecosystems require fine-scale but large-extent mapping of their 3D composition. The sub-metre spaceborne imagery can neatly produce such an expected product using multispectral stereo-imagery. We built the first 3D land-sea coral reefscape mapping using the 0.3 m superspectral WorldView-3 stereo-imagery. An array of 13 land use/land cover and sea use/sea cover habitats were classified using sea-, ground- and air-truth data. The satellite-derived topography and bathymetry reached vertical accuracies of 1.11 and 0.89 m, respectively. The value added of the eight mid-infrared (MIR) channels specific to the WorldView-3 was quantified using the classification overall accuracy (OA). With no topobathymetry, the best combination included the eight-band optical (visible + near-infrared) and the MIR8, which boosted the basic blue-green-red OA by 9.58%. The classes that most benefited from this MIR information were the land use “roof” and land cover “soil” classes. The addition of the satellite-derived topobathymetry to the optical+MIR1 produced the best full combination, increasing the basic OA by 9.73%, and reinforcing the “roof” and “soil” distinction.