The SAV Community of Practice (CoP) will be hosting an interactive 1-hour web session at 12:00pm EDT on April 12th to explore satellite imagery as a tool for mapping seagrass. We will have individuals with experience using this type of data available to answer questions. The focus will be on advantages and disadvantages of using satellite imagery compared to aerial methods, especially in an operational context.
The format of the webinar will be an open, informal dialog among participants, with time split evenly between discussion of the technology as a whole, and opportunities to dig deeper on attendee questions.
Please plan to join us as we learn from each other,
My group at VIMS has just started to augment our annual aerial imagery of Chesapeake Bay with high resolution Maxar imagery through the NextView License agreement.
I’d be interested to hear from others who are using satellite imagery to monitor seagrass.
I look forward to this meeting! Up here in MA, EPA is doing some work using Landsat imagery to map eelgrass and predict biomass, and I’m just starting a project that will use high res commercial imagery which I haven’t sourced yet.
@dwilcox very curious what the NextView License arrangement looks like - were you able to secure that through VIMS as an educational org or by using a governmental connection? Does it allow for free downloads of all imagery or a subset?
@JCarr That’s great. The basic premise of the NextView License agreement is that any federal agency that requires satellite imagery from contracted commercial sources can request and obtain said imagery at no cost to the local agency. You definitely need a federal partner to work closely with you on setting this up. Use of the data is tighly constrained and clearance from NGA is required before sharing the raw imagery or derived products. We have been able to access existing imagery of the Chesapeake Bay and target new imagery.
As part of our mission to preserve the information we share, the SAV COP has created a “wiki”/“living document” from the interactive session on using satellite imagery as a tool for mapping. This document can be found here:
Since technology changes, often rapidly, we have left the document open for commenting. The SAV COP Moderator team will review and incorporate any comments made.