The GIS and Remote Sensing Technologies for Classifying Intertidal Submerged Aquatic Vegetation And Interpolating Estuarine Topobathymetry
Citation:
Clinton, Pat. The GIS and Remote Sensing Technologies for Classifying Intertidal Submerged Aquatic Vegetation And Interpolating Estuarine Topobathymetry. CERF 2915, Portland, OR, November 08 - 12, 2015.
Impact/Purpose:
A methodology to map the extent and depth distributions of intertidal vegetation has been developed and successfully demonstrated. This technique should be of great interest to aquatic resource managers in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. The eelgrass species Zostera marina is the dominant estuarine seagrass on the Pacific Northwest coast of North America and provides important ecosystem services and functions. The loss of eelgrass bed acreage due to environmental pressures is of world-wide concern. The relative cost and advantages of established and emerging technologies for mapping the topography and vegetation of the estuarine intertidal will be of concern to aquatic resource managers attempting to assess impacts to ecosystem services especially the impacts associated with sea level rise. Task: 2.1.2.4 Uncertainty, scalability, and transferability of ecosystem goods and services Product: Report on "Uncertainty, Scaling and Transferability of Ecological Production Functions" Project: 2.1.2: Ecosystem Goods and Services Production and Benefit Functions (EGSPF) Science Question: What protocols can be developed to improve the ability to value ecosystem services and benefits across different geographic contexts and scales? Topic: Quantifying the Production and Valuation of Ecosystem Goods and Services for Sustainable Communities Theme: Forecasting and Assessing Ecological and Community Health Research Program Area: Sustainable and Healthy Communities
Description:
I will present answers to the following three questions regarding “GIS techniques to assess the bathymetric distribution of existing SAV habitats” and; “Nearshore landscape characteristics that permit or prohibit SAV migration with SLR”.1. What is the technology? What does it detect or what information can be obtained? 2. What are the notable advantages or disadvantages of this technology? For example, do the technical/operational requirements related to this technology create any limitations?3. What does it cost? What are the drivers of cost related to this technology (for example, surveying time, extent of area,)?The organizers of a workshop on Remotely Mapping Areal and Depth Distributions of Estuarine/Near-Coastal SAV posed the questions to the author.