Advances in coastal wetland remote sensing

To plan for wetland protection and sensible coastal development, scientists and managers need to monitor the changes in coastal wetlands as the sea level continues to rise and the coastal population keeps expanding. Advances in remote sensor design and data analysis techniques are providing significant improvements for studying and mapping natural and man-induced changes of coastal wetlands. New techniques include fusion of multi-sensor, multi-resolution and multitemporal images; object-based and knowledge-based classification algorithms; wetland biomass/health mapping with radar, LiDAR, and imagery; high-resolution satellite data; hyperspectral sensors; and quadcopters with digital cameras. Results of case studies show that analysis of new satellite and aircraft data, combined with a minimum of field observations, allows researchers to effectively determine longterm trends and short-term changes of wetland vegetation and hydrology. The objective of this paper is to review recent developments in wetland remote sensing and to evaluate the performance of the new techniques.