Satellites Used to Create Map off Every Reef in The Caribbean

A map detailing every shallow-water reef in the Caribbean was recently created from more than 38,000 satellite images.

The first-of-its-kind undersea database was crafted by the Nature Conservancy and conservation partners “to better help guide the sustainable use and protection of marine resources for island nations in which 60 percent of living coral has been lost in the past few decades alone,” according to a conservancy press release.

For most Caribbean countries, this is the first time citizens and governments will have access to detailed reef maps. Such maps can be used include checking for nearby reefs when approving coastal development and monitoring satellite data as it’s updated to track how reefs are being impacted by things like climate change, fisheries, storms, and pollution or runoff. In 2019, the Dominican Republic used the project data to locate the best place to conduct a large coral outplanting project.

“Having access to these maps is a game-changing achievement for the Caribbean,” Dr. Robert Brumbaugh, executive director of The Nature Conservancy’s Caribbean Division, says in the release. “Understanding and protecting natural resources is critical to the economic success of these countries.”

Planet Labs, a startup that aims to make satellite data accessible and affordable, provided satellite imagery for the project. Favorable weather conditions allow its pictures to capture details of the seafloor in shallow ocean, which makes it possible to identify seagrass beds, rocks and patches of algae. In some areas, drones, aerial fly-overs and dive teams were also used to validate images and gather additional information.

The maps are currently available for download by the public and will eventually be part of the Allen Coral Atlas, a long-term project to develop real-time mapping of the world’s coral reefs that can be used to inform governmental decision making.

“These maps are now being distributed and made widely available to a variety of stakeholders across the Caribbean,” says Dr. Steve Schill, lead scientist for The Nature Conservancy’s Caribbean Division, in the release. “Working with partners, we will use these maps to strategically expand marine protected areas, inform smarter coral reef restoration, support nature-based solutions against the threats of climate change, and overall catalyze more effective conservation actions.”