Archive Description In a NASA-sponsored partnership between remote sensing scientists, international agencies and NGOs, new efforts are being made to (1) develop baseline global reef maps that can be a foundation for future more detailed investigation, (2) assemble the key baseline remote sensing data that is needed for researchers to study coral reef environments, and (3) partner with international organizations to use remote sensing data for applied science problems and improve the management of coral reefs. The first challenge for global coral reef mapping with Landsat 7 is in getting global data that is not obscured by cloud cover. Global data acquisition for coral reef mapping was initiated through the Landsat 7 Long Term Acquisition Plan (Gasch et al. 2000). Once the instrument began acquiring data over coral reefs, it took several years to get the needed acquisitions because of tropical cloud cover, and to find ways to purchase or trade for the nearly 1000 scenes necessary to complete the global coverage. This archive contains standardized data that is tiled, zoomable, and downloadable via FTP . The archive is under construction and images from the Millennium Coral Reef Mapping Project are still being added. Status as of 17 May 2006:
The collection of this set of global data was a necessity for the Millennium Coral Reef Mapping project, and was also recognized as a need early in discussions between NASA and NOAA after the establishment of the U.S. Coral Reef Taskforce. By assembling this data in a single freely accessible location, the use of Landsat data in a variety of local, regional, and global mapping projects will become possible. This archive is a joint project of:
Data contributions by:
11th International Coral Reef Symposium Last updated 16 February 2007 |