Submerged Aquatic Vegetation (SAV) Annual Aerial Survey: Evaluating SAV Satellite Imagery Acquisition and Interpretation in Comparison to Aerial Imagery
VIMS goal was to attempt to task Maxar satellites through the NGA NextView contract mechanism to acquire acceptable SAV imagery of the entire Chesapeake Bay and to compare the usability of satellite imagery to aerial imagery for the mapping of SAV. Up to six areas that were acquired with sufficiently comparable aerial and satellite imagery would be independently interpreted from both imagery sources by the VIMS mapping team to evaluate the consistency in the resulting SAV data layers.
Authors
- David Wilcox
- Chris Patrick
Description
In 2020, commercial satellite imagery was tasked and acquired from Maxar through the NextView License with the objective of capturing SAV at maximum biomass with clear low-tide images. Aerial imagery was also captured with the same objective. This study focused on determining if usable imagery for the complete Chesapeake Bay could be acquired and how that imagery compared to the aerial imagery that has been used to map the Bay in prior years. Complete aerial imagery covering all of our flight lines was acquired for the Chesapeake Bay. Maxar high-resolution satellite images covered 66% of the areas we fly for SAV and of that imagery. We estimate that 50% of the areas we fly for SAV had satellite imagery that satisfies our basic image requirements for SAV monitoring for the Chesapeake Bay Program.