Use of NOAA photogrammetry for shallow coral reef mapping and bathymetry

As a component of the multi-agency United States coral reef task force, the authors are using color stereo photogrammetry to produce an initial product suite in a hierarchical data approach for shallow water benthic characterizations. Their initial regions have been coral reef communities in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. They have used a three-dimensional visualization photogrammetric software package, Socet Set, to produce orthophotometric-corrected mosaics. These mosaics are then used by habitat specialists to characterize the shallow water benthos. They are evaluating and developing the techniques for radiometric balancing the images, preserving the rectification precision. Additionally implementing corrections for the refraction of light in water, they have produced subsurface digital elevation models (DEMs) of the coral reef. They illustrate the status of their work with a demonstration of the three dimensional workstation environment showing examples of their work.