A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, School of Environment, Resources and Development

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1997

Shallow Water Mapping provided by Satellite Imagery is an innovation that is most welcome by coastal marine scientist and researches alike. This is due to present stage of mapping development by conventional surveying method as an exceptionally expensive tool to produce. The developments into the processing of Satellite Imagery for shallow water mapping has not been improved much due to complex configuration of the air and water in which makes the problem challenging. Satellite Remote Sensing offers a unique means to map and monitor coastal zones developments. The visible bands of Spot Satellite Imagery acquired on March 1988 was used to create shallow water maps and portraying of reefal features to delineate traditional marine ownership on Bipi Island in Manus Province, Papua New Guinea. For shallow water mapping, the diffuse attenuation coefficient an essential parameter in the radiance model was used to process a remotely-sensed image for bottom mapping of coral reefs on Sabben Island Groups on the south west coast of Manus. Spectral values of Spot Bandl, Band2 and Bandl/Band2 was used to compute diffuse attenuation coefficient and with field data measurements from lagoon. This image was then processed to obtain maps of the bottom corrected for shallow water maps for the traditional marine ownership of the Silikou Group