Earth observation and remote sensing science can be used to monitor canopy-forming kelp forests. The underlying kelp canopy data on Kelpwatch is derived from Landsat imagery and based on classification methods developed by WHOI and UCLA (Bell et al. 2023, Houskeeper et al. 2022). Landsat’s spatial, spectral, and temporal accuracy is reliable in identifying the kelp canopies. The methodology relies on atmospherically corrected 30m resolution multispectral imagery from five Landsat sensors.

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