Effect of spatial resolution on intertidal sediment characterization

Remote sensing offers opportunities to efficiently acquire data of intertidal flats and characterize intertidal sediments. Each type of imagery with a different spatial resolution offers a distinctive perception. The objective of this research is to investigate the impact of these properties on sediment characterization. A hyperspectral airborne image of 4 m pixel size accompanied by field data is used. The study consists of a geostatistical analysis of spatial correlations for the hyperspectral image and imagery depicting specific sediment properties (moisture content and chlorophyll a content). The results show that there is information lost when the pixel size of the image increases to 24 m pixel size. To characterize relative moisture content, a maximum pixel size of 12m can be used. While for chlorophyll a content characterization, increasing the pixel size (investigated up to 72 m) does not degrade the information significantly . The research presented in this paper is funded by the Belgian Science Policy Office in the frame of the STEREO II programme (ALGASED project)