Seagrass Mapping and Monitoring Along the Coasts of Crete, Greece

Current MSc thesis focuses on the monitoring of seagrass P.oceanica along the northern coasts of Crete Island, Greece, and investigates the application of the remote sensing techniques for the seagrass mapping. This research was articulated in two parts, where the first one involves an ecological approach to the seagrass distribution in various regions around the globe and the experience of seagrass monitoring nowadays. The second part of this work has technical character and investigates the application of the remote sensing techniques towards seagrass mapping. It, furthermore, focuses on the optical properties of the P.oceanica and other seafloor cover types, and studies distinguishability of various seafloor cover types. Studies of the optical characteristics of separate seafloor cover types were made with purpose to clarify, whether their spectral properties change with varying environmental conditions. Special attention has been drawn on the role of environmental factors on the distribution of P.oceanica along the coasts of Crete, and in particular, how the optical properties of the seafloor cover types, i.e. spectral reflectance, are being changed under varying external conditions, e.g. water column, amount of suspended particles and sediments in the seawater, and water temperature. Fieldwork research sites were presented by separate locations on the northern coast of Crete region (Ligaria, Agia Pelagia, Xerocampos). The additional measurements of the reflectance spectra of the seawater with and without sediments have been made in aquarium tank in 2009 by means of Trios-RAMSES spectroradiometer. Parallel to the collection of spectra signatures, we captured the imagery for the seagrass mapping, which consists of the aerial images from the Google Earth website and the satellite Landsat TM and ETM+ scenes.