2003
8 December 2003. NASA RELEASE:
03-395. NASA
Learning To Monitor Coral Reef Health From
The Sky. Coral
reef health may be accurately estimated from
sensors on airplanes and satellites in the
future, .... Sometimes called the "bellwether
of the seas," coral reefs can give first
indications of marine ecosystem health. "Scientists
can use coral health as a sensitive indicator
of the health of the marine environment," said
Liane Guild, a scientist at NASA Ames Research
Center, Moffett Field, Calif. ...One of the
first steps her team took to develop aerial
coral monitoring was to take undersea light-reflectance
readings of elkhorn coral with a handheld
spectroradiometer, or light meter. ... A spectroradiometer
measures the amount of ultraviolet, visible
and infrared light reflected from an object,
and is similar to sensors aboard remote-sensing
airplanes and satellites. ..."Ultimately,
we plan to fly 'hyperspectral' instruments,
containing many detectors that collect information
in the visible light range,"
Guild explained. These instruments
will provide the most useful information
about coral-reef community health
from above the sea, according to
Guild. The team's research emphasis
is on Acropora palmata, or elkhorn
coral, a major reef-building coral.
It is prevalent in the study area,
but is suffering from
"white band disease." Elkhorn
coral is on the verge of becoming
an endangered species because it
has severely declined in many areas
of the Caribbean, Guild noted. Images.
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