Abstract: 

Flying drones offer a novel and cost-efficient technology for coastal habitat mapping. In the SeaBee infrastructure, we demonstrate that drones, when combined with sophisticated sensors and machine learning, can produce predictive maps of coastal vegetation, such as seagrass and macroalgae at centimeter-scale spatial resolution.

In the OBAMA-NEXT project, we are building on the SeaBee mapping procedures to adapt them to several learning sites across Europe and to upscale the drone-based products to regional scales using satellite remote sensing data. We are also developing methods to quantify the volume of blue carbon habitats using LiDAR technology from drones.

In this webinar, the results obtained in OBAMA-NEXT and related studies were presented, and how these methods can benefit mapping and monitoring efforts in Europe.