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<DIV><SPAN class=520372508-04102000><FONT face=Garamond size=4>Dear Coral
List</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=520372508-04102000><FONT face=Garamond
size=4></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=520372508-04102000><FONT face=Garamond size=4>I'd like to
introduce myself to the coral mailing list and perhaps get some feedback/ideas
on the project I am working on. I am a PhD student at Imperial College,
London using high frequency (675 kHz) side-scan sonar to image coral reef areas
in the Seychelles. I am investigating ways of using this technique to
create habitat maps (as a first step, discriminating between seagrass/sand/reef)
and also as a monitoring tool to identify coral damage (discriminating between
healthy and dead coral). I intend to use a combination of image processing
techniques used in remote sensing applied to the side-scan sonar imagery with
the integration of other datasets such as aerial photography, sediment sampling,
underwater photography and diver observations.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=520372508-04102000><FONT face=Garamond
size=4></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=520372508-04102000><FONT face=Garamond size=4>Our baseline
dataset was collected in November 1998 in the St. Anne, Cousin and Curieuse
marine parks in the Seychelles. We have cooperated with the Shoals of
Capricorn project (</FONT><A href="http://www.shoalsofcapricorn.org"><FONT
face=Garamond size=4>www.shoalsofcapricorn.org</FONT></A><FONT face=Garamond
size=4>) who have helped with fieldwork logistics and subsequent diver
observations for ground truthing the data. We will have a follow up field
season this year to study the effects of the major coral bleaching episode in
1998 which caused wide-ranging damage to the reefs of the Indian
Ocean.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=520372508-04102000><FONT face=Garamond
size=4></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=520372508-04102000><FONT face=Garamond size=4>I'd love to hear
from other people who are working in the Seychelles on mapping/monitoring
projects and anyone else who is studying methods to identify/quantify coral
damage. On a more technical note, I would be grateful if anyone
has experience with using side-scan sonar in coral reef areas could give me some
advice on the acquisition, processing and interpretation of the
data.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=520372508-04102000><FONT face=Garamond
size=4></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=520372508-04102000><FONT face=Garamond
size=4></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=520372508-04102000><FONT face=Garamond size=4>Kind
regards</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=520372508-04102000><FONT face=Garamond
size=4></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=520372508-04102000><FONT face=Garamond
size=4></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=520372508-04102000><FONT face=Garamond
size=4></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=520372508-04102000><FONT face=Garamond size=4>Stuart
Humber</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=520372508-04102000><FONT face=Garamond
size=4></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=520372508-04102000><FONT face=Garamond
size=4></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=520372508-04102000><FONT face=Arial><A
href="http://www.huxley.ic.ac.uk/research/Comp&Geophys/Geophys/people/stuart3.html">http://www.huxley.ic.ac.uk/research/Comp&Geophys/Geophys/people/stuart3.html</A></FONT></SPAN></DIV></BODY></HTML>