Hold onto your snorkels! A groundbreaking study led by the University of Queensland (UQ) has used high-res satellite tech to show that shallow coral reefs cover 348,361 square kilometers worldwide—that’s 25% more than previous estimates!
Published in Cell Reports Sustainability, the findings could be a huge win for marine conservation efforts.
The team analyzed over 1.5 million samples and a whopping 100 trillion pixels from satellites like Sentinel-2 and Planet Dove CubeSat. The upgraded maps reveal fine-scale details, including 80,213 square kilometers of coral habitat, giving scientists a clearer blueprint to protect these biodiversity hotspots.
\"This is like upgrading from flip-phone photos to 4K resolution for coral reefs,\" joked one researcher. The data could help track reef health in real-time, offering hope amid climate change threats.
Reference(s):
Satellites reveal fine-scale global area estimates for coral reefs
cgtn.com