Processing Coral Reef Imagery Using Structure-from-Motion Photogrammetry: Standard Operating Procedures (2023 Update)
May 02, 2024
In the face of accelerating changes to our climate, it is critical that we robustly document the status and trends of the world’s coral reefs to best highlight resilient reefs and identify resilience-supporting management practices.
The Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) has been testing, improving, and streamlining its Structure-from-Motion (SfM) processing pipeline to produce permanent digital records of coral reefs across the U.S. Pacific Islands and Territories. The SfM-derived imagery and 3D models allow us to effectively extract high quality coral demographic data that are comparable to the rapid ecological assessment (REA) data collected by scuba divers as part of the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP), including coral density, colony size, colony condition, and taxonomic identification data.
The Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center of NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service uses the NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-PIFSC series to disseminate scientific and technical information that has been scientifically reviewed and edited. Documents within this series reflect sound professional work and may be referenced in the formal scientific and technical literature.
Torres-Pulliza D, Charendoff J, Couch CS, Suka R, Gray A, Lichowski F, Amir C, Lamirand M, Asbury M, Winston M, Basden I, Oliver T 2024. Processing Coral Reef Imagery Using Structure-from-Motion Photogrammetry: Standard Operating Procedures (2023 Update) U.S. Dept. of Commerce, NOAA Technical Memorandum NOAA-TM-NMFS-PIFSC-159, 91 p.
https://doi.org/10.25923/cydj-z260