Impact of Atmospheric Correction on Classification and Quantification of Seagrass Density from WorldView-2 Imagery

Mapping the seagrass distribution and density in underwater landscape can improve global Blue Carbon estimates. However, atmospheric absorption scattering introduce errors space-based sensors’ retrieval of sea surface reflectance, affecting presence, density, above-ground carbon (AGCseagrass) This study assessed correction’s impact on mapping using WorldView-2 satellite imagery from Saint Joseph Bay, George Sound, Keaton Beach Florida, USA. Coincident situ measurements water-leaving radiance (Lw), optical properties, leaf area index (LAI) were collected. Seagrass classification LAI compared after empirical line height (ELH) dark-object subtraction (DOS) methods used for correction. DOS left residual brightness blue green bands but had minimal accuracy. brighter reflectance values reduced retrievals by up to 50% ELH-corrected images ground-based observations. offers a potential correction underestimation due incomplete correction, enhancing without observations accurate interference