Determination of coral reef changes from satellite imagery and gis technology at Bidong Island coastal area

Abstract

Image analysis from satellite imagery for mapping of coral at shallow water area is important for knowing the habitat distribution and its changes. Satellite remote sensing method for universal habitat-mapping has been shown to be cheaper (Mumby et.al., 1997). Even though satellite image processing is a complex task but the outcome will bring lots of use. In this study, image from QuickBird satellite for Bidong Island coastal area year 2011 were used and it was processed using ENVI 4.7 software. A whole map of coral distribution was produced and the coral cover at study area was detected where 52.46% of it is life coral, 21.31 % of dead coral with algae, 9 .84% of sand and 16.39% of rubble. It is found from the changes of coral cover of Bidong Island coastal area 2007 and 2011 that life coral cover had increase by 19 .85%.