SPECTRAL CHARACTERISTICS OF MICROPHYTOBENTHOS ON THE SURFACE SEDIMENTS IN GEUNSO-BAY TIDAL FLAT

Abstract

In terms of the tidal flat ecosystem, microphytobenthos has influenced primary productivity as supplying nourishments and has a key part in preventing the erosion of tidal flat. For this reason, we carried out analysis on microphytobenthos spectral characteristics to monitor the seasonal variation of microphytobenthos distribution on the surface sediments in Geunso-bay tidal flat in the west coast of Korean peninsula. The biomass of diatom within the surface sediments was estimated through field survey. Field spectrum data were acquired monthly at the fixed locations for monitoring the microphytobenthos blooming and compared with the spectral reflectance of satellite images. The seasonal changes of benthic distribution could be obviously detected using high spatial resolution of satellite image. From this, we suggest that the seasonal variations of microphytobenthos distribution can be effectively estimated usingthe spectral characteristics of the satellite images