Download or read book The Utility of Digital Globe's WorldView-2 Satellite Data in Mapping Seagrass in North Carolina Estuaries written by Richard W. Curran and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 69 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) is a valuable natural resource in North Carolina estuaries. The State's Coastal Habitat Protection Plan (CHPP) has stated a need to monitor SAV coverage over time. Thus, the Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuarine Program (APNEP) SAV Partners has a project underway developing a mapping methodology combining remote sensing and boat-based methods to map SAV. As a partner in the APNEP mapping program, this research investigated the utility of satellite remote sensing in the mapping of SAV in NC estuaries. In particular, the data of DigitalGlobe's WorldView-2 (WV-2) satellite launched October 2009 were studied. The WV-2 data are of high spatial resolution (~2x2 m) and 5 visible multi-spectral bands, including a "coastal" band (400-450 nm). One WV-2 image per site was acquired. Three sites were, Jarrett Bay, Blounts Bay, and Sandy Point. Land and deep water (>2 m) pixels were eliminated from each image and subjected to a principal component analysis (PCA), where the first two components were input into the Iterative Self-Organizing Data Analysis Techniques (ISODATA) unsupervised classification. Ground reference points were used to perform an accuracy assessment. At Jarrett Bay, where a continuous SAV bed covered 40%-70% of the study site, results showed an 86.4% classification accuracy in water depths 0.8 m and 40.9% accuracy in water depths 0.8m. At Blounts Bay, where SAV coverage was sparse (0%-10%), classification accuracy was 50% in water depths 0.8 m and remained at 50% in depths 0.8m. The Sandy Point image was deemed unusable due to extensive sun glint. Most misclassifications were due to dark sediment and the sensor's difficulty in detecting small SAV patches (