DETECTION AND QUANTIFICATION OF SUBMERGED SEAGRASS TOTAL ABOVEGROUND BIOMASS CHANGES IN TINGGI ISLAND, JOHOR USING REMOTE SENSING DATA

Tinggi Island area is gazetted as Johor Marine Park while unpredictable natural phenomenon claimed as a primary threat
that caused reduction of submerged seagrass total aboveground biomass (SSTAGB). This study aims to (a) detect and quantify
SSTAGB in clear water of the Tinggi Island area using satellite data, and (b) assess SSTAGB changes in 2009 and 2014.
Algorithm of Bottom Reflectance Index is implemented on Landsat 8 OLI image of 2009 and 2014 to detect and study spatial
distribution of multi-species submerged seagrass. Field data sampling was conducted to validate the classified satellite image.
A series of quadrat sampling of 0.5mx0.5m was used to quantify ground-based SSTAGB. The result found that the seagrass area
and SSTAGB around the island are rigid and remarkably consistent over a 5-year interval. A strong association between
ground-based SSTAGB and satellite-based SSTAGB shows that the BRI model is significantly satisfied to be implemented on
moderate resolution of satellite data with overall accuracy of >70% and >0.65 of kappa statistic.