Borstad Associates Ltd. - Coastal Management

Borstad Associates Ltd. has long had a focus on marine, aquatic and coastal applications of aerial and satellite remote sensing. We have developed the methods to use image maps of sea surface temperature, sediment concentration, sea ice, oceanographic fronts, and other features to describe the ocean environment.

Maps of Coastal Vegetation from Airborne Multispectral Imagery

All objects and materials reflect, transmit and absorb incident light selectively at different wavelengths and hence exhibit a characteristic colour to the human eye. The colour of plants tells us a great deal about them, including their taxonomic class, and physiological status. Because of this, multi-spectral satellite imagery has been used very successfully to map vegetation of all types for many years. However, the limited spatial resolution and the long orbital cycle of the current suite of satellite sensors do not allow them to provide imagery often enough or with enough detail to be useful in most coastal zones. It is practically impossible to obtain cloud-free satellite data during a low tide window. For this reason, airborne instruments such as our Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager (CASI) are the sensor of choice. We have undertaken many projects related to habitat inventory

	Multispectral Imaging of the Coastal Zone near Tampa, Florida Multispectral classification of submersed vegetation and bottom types for Apollo Bay, Florida.
	Mapping Intertidal Habitat in Prince Rupert Harbour Multispectral classification of kelp and eelgrass beds, sandflats and intertidal vegetation of Prince Rupert Harbour and vicinity.
	Mapping Kelp Beds off the British Columbia Coast Thematic map of kelp beds off the British Columbia coast near Nootka Sound created with multispectral aerial imagery.

Mapping Coral Reefs and Lagoons

	Mauritius and Rodrigues Thematic map of corals, seagrasses, sand and black volcanic rock, using multispectral classification techniques.
	Cayos Arcas and Cayos Triángulos Data acquisition over Cayos Arcas and Cayos Triángulos in support of multispectral characterization studies.
	La Réunion (in French) Etude de le récif coralline de la Saline à l'Ile de la Réunion par télédétection mutlibande.
	Parguera, Puerto Rico Multispectral classification of the coral reefs and shoreline vegetation between Parguera and Bahia Fosforescente.

Coastal Management Related Papers

Maps of Intertidal Vegetation from Airborne Multispectral Imagery

Mapping Wetland Vegetation in the Fraser River Delta

Intertidal Habitat in Terra Nova National Park

Mapping a Texas Coastal Lagoon with Airborne Multispectral Imaging

Remote Sensing of Nearshore Vegetation in Washington State's Puget Sound