Mapping coastal ecosystems of an offshore landfill island using worldview-2 high resolution satellite imagery

Abstract

The Worldview-2 satellite imagery with 2-m spatial resolution and 8 spectral bands is used to map the coastal ecosystems for our study site, an offshore island of Singapore. The eastern side of the study area is used as a landfill, while the western part of the island is left natural with rich biodiversity where large stretches of seagrass meadow, mangroves and coral reefs are distributed in the intertidal zone. An image acquired during low tide was first corrected for Rayleigh scattering and gaseous absorption in the atmosphere. Unsupervised classification and contextual editing were used to create the final coastal ecosystem map which contains information on both substrate types and the habitats cover. Field surveys were also conducted. The produced map will be used for coastal assessment and management and as well as for comparative study.