Multi-vs. hyperspectral characteristics of common coral reef features

Analysis of hyperspectral data has produced encouraging results in the discrimination of common and optically similar coral reef substrates such as healthy corals, bleached corals, sea grass, and algae-covered surfaces, but at the present time, such high spectral resolution data is unavailable from a satellite platform. If currently available satellite imagery is to be used to map and monitor changes in coral reef geographic extent and health, a quantitative procedure must be developed to discriminate healthy coral from other optically similar benthic substrates with coarse spectral resolution. The primary goal of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of using coarse spectral resolution data to discriminate common coral reef ecosystem features such as healthy coral, macroalgae, and seagrass. Principal components analysis is used to reduce the in situ reflectance dataset to representative spectra and cluster analysis is used to determine the degree of separability by class at different spectral resolutions.