APPLICATION OF REMOTE SENSING AND GIS FOR CORAL REEF MAPPING IN THE COASTAL WATERS OF NINH THUAN PROVINCE (VIETNAM) ?

摘要

Thank to effective combination of the traditional methods of habitat studies and remote sensing techniques, the distribution map of coral reef in coastal waters of Ninh Thuan have been built. Image resources include Landsat7 ETM+, TERRA ASTER and a seria of aerphotographs at difference date. The field trip data from the rapid assessment by manta tow technique and detail surveys by contour transect method have been chose as key sites for coral reef mapping interpretation. Main utility techniques for interpretation are box classification and image fusion. By technique to convert from raster to vector, the GIS map of distribution coral reef in coastal waters of Ninh Thuan have been established with the categories concerning to Death Coral, Hard Coral, Seagrass, Sand and others… in 1/50.000 map scale. Beside, a GIS Database on the coral reef has been established base on orientation object program method. This Database contains base map include information layers of topography, river network, travel network, administration and also socio-economical information, as well as MetaData and Investigated Data. The investigated data (include environmental and biodiversity data) also are presented in GIS format. This paper shows the potential to apply the remote sensing in study coral reefs in other areas of Viet Nam.