The NASA jet taking 'naked' pictures of Great Barrier Reef to help save it
The US space agency is taking images of the Great Barrier Reef from 8.5 kilometres up in a specially equipped jet to gain a better understanding of what humans are doing to the largest living thing on Earth.
Using a state-of-the-art sensor that allows scientists to effectively build a naked map of the reef, with the atmosphere and water removed, the NASA-led project is part of the biggest survey ever conducted of the world's coral reefs.
A NASA-led project is surveying the Great Barrier Reef using a cutting-edge sensor to give a clearer picture of its health.Credit:NASA-JPL/BIOS
The images taken above six sections of the reef will be analysed at NASA's jet propulsion laboratory in California, giving a picture of how much is covered by coral, algae and sand
Project leader Eric Hochberg, from the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, said the aerial images would give a different perspective of how and why reefs were changing than the "up close and personal" view from ocean surveys.
Australian scientists are conducting ocean-level surveys while NASA captures images from 8.5 kilometres up.Credit:NASA-JPL/BIOS
It comes as scientists assess the damage from the worst year of reef bleaching on record. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority estimates 22 per cent of coral died due to heat stress this year, mostly in the reef's northern region.
"We know that the northern Great Barrier Reef warmed up last year and the corals bleached – that's not under debate – but what about the reef as an ecosystem? That's not just the corals," Dr Hochberg said.
While there is little doubt pollution hurts reefs, Dr Hochberg said the nature of the link demanded further investigation. The maps built using the sensor – known as the portable remote imaging spectrometer, or PRISM – will be measured against existing data sets tracking water temperature and pollution in an attempt to build that picture.
"A good result from this work will be finding the relationships that appear to be missing," Dr Hochberg said.
Scientists working on the reef.Credit:NASA-JPL/BIOS
"We want to make sure that reefs are around for the future. To do that we have to understand how they work, what drives them, what makes them change."
The Great Barrier Reef is the first of four sites being surveyed by the team, which includes more than 200 researchers from universities and science agencies worldwide. In Australia, they include CSIRO and the University of Queensland.
As the plane flies overhead, scientists are undertaking contemporaneous surveys in the water. Once work finishes in Queensland the airborne laboratory will head to Hawaii, Palau and the Mariana Islands. The three-year project will cost NASA $US15 million.
One of the strengths of the research is its precision. Each pixel on a map equates to an area of ocean eight metres by eight metres. The sensor can capture data across 250 bands, from ultraviolet to near-infrared, allowing the removal of signals not related to the reef.
While the project is a one-off, it is considered a step towards monitoring reef health using satellites.
Senior Writer