Mapping Sub-Metre 3D Land-Sea Coral Reefscapes Using Superspectral WorldView-3 Satellite Stereoimagery

Shallow coral reefs ensure a wide portfolio of ecosystem services, from fish provisioning to tourism, that support more than 500 million people worldwide. The protection and sustainable management these pivotal ecosystems require fine-scale but large-extent mapping their 3D composition. sub-metre spaceborne imagery can neatly produce such an expected product using multispectral stereo-imagery. We built the first land-sea reefscape 0.3 m superspectral WorldView-3 An array 13 land use/land cover sea use/sea habitats were classified sea-, ground- air-truth data. satellite-derived topography bathymetry reached vertical accuracies 1.11 0.89 m, respectively. value added eight mid-infrared (MIR) channels specific was quantified classification overall accuracy (OA). With no topobathymetry, best combination included eight-band optical (visible + near-infrared) MIR8, which boosted basic blue-green-red OA by 9.58%. classes most benefited this MIR information use “roof” “soil” classes. addition topobathymetry optical+MIR1 produced full combination, increasing 9.73%, reinforcing distinction.