Nearshore Substrate Mapping Change Analysis using Multispectral Imagery, California South Coast MPA Baseline Study, 2011 to 2012

Three remote sensing datasets were utilized to create the final substrate map products: 1) 4-banded imagery collected in June, October and November of 2012 by Keystone Aerial Mapping with its Microsoft UltraCam-X (used for 2012 intertidal and kelp mapping); 2) 4-banded imagery collected in December of 2011 by Ocean Imaging using its DMSC MK II sensor (used for 2011 kelp mapping); 3) Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) topographic data collected by Fugro Earth Data in March, 2010. The LiDAR dataset (providing high resolution topographical data of the intertidal zone) proved to be less useful for intertidal zone delineation than for the North Central California Coast (NCC). This was due to data format issues and some obvious errors in the SCR dataset in the lower intertidal to subtidal zones. However, the LiDAR dataset was used whenever possible. Field data and photographs collected for this project between 2013-2014 were also utilized to divide the terrestrial, intertidal and subtidal areas into subzones helping to create subzone-specific training sets used in the supervised classification procedure. Each subzone classification was then manually edited in order to ensure the highest accuracy product possible, and then mosaicked together into subregions of the overall SCR. The habitat classes this process confidently identified and mapped using the multispectral imagery for the sub/intertidal zones were:

1 - Whitewash/Undefined
2 - Water
3 - Sandy Beach
4 - Mixed Red/Brown Algae
5 - Shadow
6 - Terrestrial Vegetation
7 - Unvegetated Rock
8 - Beach Wrack
9 - Kelp/Brown Algae
10 - Blue-Green Algae
11 - Mixed Rock/Mussels/Barnacles/Anemone
12 - Cobble
13 - Man-made/Artificial
14 - Driftwood
15 - Surf Grass
17 - Eel Grass
21 - Green Algae
22 - Submerged Sandy Bottom
23 - Submerged Rock/Reef
24 - Deep Water