Mapping live coral with Tanager!

With researchers at Arizona State University, Planeteers Keely Roth and ​@amy.rosenthal have just published a new study identifying and mapping live coral in a well-studied site in Hawai'i, USA. We tested our hyperspectral satellite, Tanager, against field observations and aerial high-fidelity hyperspectral, and the results are very promising:

At 30 m resolution, the [GAO and Tanager] generated similar geographic patterns of live coral, macroalgal, and sand cover. Field validation indicated similar precision and accuracy of live coral cover estimates, and the ratio of live coral to macroalgal cover proved similar between sensors. Overall results indicate that live coral cover can be mapped with high-fidelity imaging spectroscopy from Earth orbit. With the advent of more spaceborne imaging spectrometers, a new era of live coral monitoring will be possible, filling a critical gap for repeated assessments of reef compositional change at a global level.

What are the main findings?
• Spaceborne imaging spectroscopy from the Tanager-1 satellite provided verifiable
estimates of live coral cover on a Hawaiian reef.
• Airborne and spaceborne imaging spectrometers produced comparable geospatial
distributions of live coral cover, macroalgal cover, and their ratio.

What are the implications of the main findings?
• Live coral cover can be mapped with high-fidelity imaging spectroscopy from Earth orbit.
• The findings support repeatable mapping of coral and macroalgae in reef compositional
monitoring at a global scale.