SCIENTISTS CREATE LARGEST
COLLECTION OF CORAL REEF MAPS EVER MADE
University Of Miami
Rosenstiel School Of Marine & Atmospheric Science
IMAGE: VIEWING CORAL REEFS FROM ABOVE REVEALS MUCH ABOUT
THEIR HEALTH AND STRUCTURE. REPEATED OBSERVATIONS THROUGH TIME CAN BE USED TO
TRACK CHANGE. REGIONAL-SCALE REEF MAPPING IS A KEY PRECURSOR FOR...
A study from scientists at the Khaled Bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation and the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric
Science offers a new way to accurately map Coral Reefs using a combination
of Earth-Orbiting Satellites and field observations.
This first-ever global coral reef atlas contains
maps of over 65,000 square kilometers (25,097
square miles) of coral reefs and surrounding habitats.
The maps, published today in the journal Coral
Reefs, are the result of a 10-year Global Reef Expedition by scientists for
the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation.
The expedition traveled to over 1,000 remote coral
reefs in 15 countries, mapping and surveying the reefs down to a one-square
meter scale to better understand their health and resiliency.
Many of the reefs visited on the expedition had
never been studied before.
The high-resolution coral reef maps contain
information on shallow water marine habitat such as fore and back reefs as well
as information on the size of seagrass beds and mangrove forests for key
locations visited on the expedition.
All of these coastal habitats are key components of
tropical coastal ecosystems and help to filter water, protect the coast from
storms, and provide key nursery habitat for commercial and subsistence
fisheries.
They also face increasing threats from coastal
development, overfishing, and climate change.
To develop the new model to accurately map coral
reef and other tropical shallow-water marine habitats, scientists took data
collected from extensive Scuba surveys conducted on the Global Reef Expedition
and extrapolate that information across the entire reef using ultra-high-resolution
satellite imagery.
By comparing the maps with video footage from
cameras dropped at precise coordinates along the reef, the scientists were able
to verify the accuracy of their new mapping method.
"In
order to conserve something, it's imperative to know where it is located and
how much of it you have", said Sam Purkis, professor and chair of the
UM Rosenstiel School Department of Marine Geosciences.
Developing such an understanding for coral reefs is
especially challenging because they are submerged underwater and therefore
obscured from casual view.
With this study, we demonstrate the potential to
use satellite images to make coral reef maps at global scale.
Scientists now have a way to peer beneath the waves
to accurately map large areas of coral reefs at greatly reduced cost.
Traditional coral reef surveys are expensive to
conduct and limited in scope, requiring hours of underwater surveys conducted
by highly-trained scientific divers.
Using this new model, scientists can create
detailed coral reef habitat maps at a regional scale without having to survey
the entire reef in person.
"Satellite,
aircraft, and drone imaging will become an increasingly important tool for
addressing the coral reef crisis at the global scale at which it's occurring",
said Purkis, also the interim chief scientist for the Living Oceans Foundation.
The high-resolution coral reef maps made for this
study can be found on the World Reef Map, an interactive coral reef atlas where
users can explore all of the coral reefs and shallow water marine habitats
mapped on the Global Reef Expedition.
Although they by no means cover every reef
worldwide, this new atlas covers a meaningful portion of key reef provinces
around the world.
It also provides much-needed baseline data of coral
reef health prior to the 2017 mass bleaching event.
This digital resource has been made available to
the public so that governments and conservation organizations can use these
maps to protect and restore their coral reefs for generations to come.
Scientists estimate that over 50% of coral reefs
worldwide have been lost in the past 40 years due to climate change and other
human pressures.
These new detailed habitat maps can help local
resource managers identify areas that may be in greatest need of conservation
action.
"Benthic
habitat maps are an essential tool in coral reef conservation as they provide a
snapshot of where reefs are located and the status of their health,"
said Alexandra Dempsey, the director of science management for the Khaled bin
Sultan Living Oceans Foundation and a co-author of the paper.
"Scientists will use these habitat maps as
baseline data to help track changes in reef composition and structure over
time."
The study, titled "High-resolution habitat and bathymetry maps for 65,000sq. km of Earth's
remotest coral reefs," was published online on April 18, 2019 in the
journal Coral Reefs,
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-019-01802-y.
The study's authors include: Sam Purkis and Arthur
Gleason of the UM Rosenstiel School; Charlotte Purkis of Sea from Space Inc;
Alexandra Dempsey and Philip Renaud of the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans
Foundation; Mohamed Faisal of Michigan State University; Steven Saul of Arizona
State University and Jeremy M. Kerr of Nova Southeastern University.
The 10-year study was funded entirely by the Khaled
bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation.
ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI'S ROSENSTIEL SCHOOL
The University of Miami is one of the largest
private research institutions in the southeastern United States.
The University's mission is to provide quality
education, attract and retain outstanding students, support the faculty and
their research, and build an endowment for University initiatives.
Founded in the 1940's, the Rosenstiel School of
Marine & Atmospheric Science has grown into one of the world's premier
marine and atmospheric research institutions.
Offering dynamic interdisciplinary academics, the
Rosenstiel School is dedicated to helping communities to better understand the
planet, participating in the establishment of environmental policies, and
aiding in the improvement of society and quality of life.
