SURFSIDE SCIENCE: Validating satellite-based seafloor maps on small islands

KIVI KRING CARRIBBEAN – ARUBA invites you to attend its activity with the following title:

“SURFSIDE SCIENCE: VALIDATING SATELLITE-BASED SEAFLOOR MAPS ON SMALL ISLANDS”

Communities living in Small Island Development States (SIDS) like Aruba are heavily dependent on the ecosystem services that are offered by various coastal habitats, such as seagrass meadows and coral reefs. These habitats are undergoing rapid changes due to a variety of global, regional and local human and natural stressors, such as climate change, coastal development, pollution, overfishing etc.

Nevertheless, many SIDS lack knowledge and data about the state of their marine environments. To monitor and detect changes in seafloor habitats, satellite-based seafloor maps can provide a cost-effective and open-access approach. However, the accuracy of this remote sensing method needed to be validated.

The role of Tatiana Becker during the Surfside Science project was to validate open-source satellite-derived seafloors maps created for the urbanized bay Surfside in Aruba making use of relatively simple sea-truthing methods. As such with the aim to verify and validate the seafloor habitat classifications from Sentinel 2 satellite imagery.

This activity will take place at the University of Aruba in room A at Juancho Irausquin Plein 4, Oranjestad on Thursday February 29, 2024 at 7 to 8 p.m. followed by KIVI’s networking session from 8 – 9:00 p.m. while enjoying a drink and a snack. An entrance fee of 20 AWG florins is charged to KIVI members to cover the costs while non-members are charged 25 AWG fls. There is a free entrance for students at the University of Aruba while the entrance fee for the PhD candidates is 10 AWG fls. You can register via the KIVI website.
SURFSIDE SCIENCE: Validating satellite-based seafloor maps on small islands | KIVI