MAPPING CORAL REEF HABITAT WITH AND WITHOUT WATER COLUMN CORRECTION USING QUICKBIRD IMAGE

Abstract

Remote sensing from space offers an effective approach to solve the limitation of field sampling, in particular to monitor the reefs in remote sites. Moreover, using the achieved remotely sensed data, it is even possible to monitor the historic status of the coral reef environment. The capabilities of satellite remote sensing techniques combined with the field data collection have been assessed for generating coral reef habitat mapping of the Derawan Island. A very high spatial resolution multi-spectral QuickBird image (October 2003) has been used. The capability of QuickBird image to generate a coral reef habitat map with the water column correction by applying the Lyzenga method, and also without the water column correction by the applying maximum likelihood method, have been assessed. The classification accuracy of the coral reef habitat map increased after the improvement of the water column effects. The classification of QuickBird image for coral reef habitat mapping increased up to 22% by applying a water column correction. Keywords : Coral Reef, Quickbird, Water Column Correction