[Coral-List] Coral Surface Area

[Tyler Smith]

Hi Listers,
Has anyone had experience with modeling coral surface areas from  
field data?

I have maximum width, the width perpendicular to maximum width, and  
height.  I want to assume that the horizontal plane is an ellipsoid,  
which is no problem, but I am having trouble locating a formula that  
will produce a 3-D mound from the ellipsoid.  In the end I want  
surface area of the mound.

Cheers,
Tyler



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tyler B. Smith, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Center for Marine and Environmental Studies
University of the Virgin Islands
2 John Brewers Bay
St. Thomas, USVI       00802
USA
office: 340-693-1394
fax:     340-693-1385