Remote monitoring of giant kelp biomass and physiological condition: An evaluation of the potential for the Hyperspectral Infrared Imager (HyspIRI) mission

The seasonal cycle dominates giant kelp canopy biomass temporal variability. However, the strength and timing of this cycle varies in both space and time. Our projections of cloud-free HyspIRI coverage indicate that the sensor will be able to capture at least 1 cloud free view each season for nearly all of the global giant kelp habitats, thereby illustrating that HyspIRI will resolve the dominant seasonal cycles in giant kelp biomass. A novel spectral index developed here from field observations explained 76% of the variance in Chl:C and was applied to hyperspectral aircraft observations. These results demonstrate that the spatial, temporal, and spectral coverage provided by HyspIRI has the potential to provide new insights into the ecology and biophysiology of giant kelp.