Coral Reef Ecosystem Monitoring Using Remote Sensing Data: Case Study in Owi Island, Biak, Papua

Coral reef ecosystem is a typical ecosystem in tropical marine and important for coastal island communities, including in Owi Island. This study aims to know a condition of coral reef covered area in Owi Island using Rapideye imagery satellite. This study used the “depth invariant index” method using bands 1 and bands 2 is Y = ln (bands 1) – ki/kj ln (bands 2) with unsupervised classification and field observation directly using manta tow method. The results show that area or percent cover of live coral is 23 ha (22%) and dead coral 21.46 ha (20%). Meanwhile, percent cover live coral using manta tow method between 11%-30% and dead coral between 31%-50%. The overall accuracy satellite imagery for mapping benthic habitats is 73.42% and coefficient kappa is 0.67.