POSTER Session 2

ANTHROPOGENIC IMPACT ASSESSMENT ON CORAL REEFS ECOSYSTEM IN GULF OF MANNAR USING OPTICAL REMOTE SENSING DATA

Coral reefs in the Gulf of Mannar are highly productive ecosystems that are deteriorated due to the anthropogenic activities, ocean warming and increased turbidity levels caused by tropical cyclones. Traditional field-based methods are often time-consuming and impractical for large-scale monitoring. This study investigates the utility of optical remote sensing data as a tool for assessing the anthropogenic impacts on the coral reef ecosystem in the Gulf of Mannar. The key optically active water quality parameters such as Chlorophyll-a, Total Suspended Solids (TSS), and Coloured Dissolved Organic Matter (CDOM) were estimated from satellite data and used to derive the corresponding indices. A generalized Water Quality Index (WQI) model reported in our earlier work was used in this study. This model integrates the derived indices and dynamic weightages with the fuzzy logic approach. Further, the individual contribution of these parameters to the WQI values was examined and consequently a new term was coined as Water Quality Cells which is defined to represent the regions solely dominated by a single water quality parameter. For this analysis, we utilized a series of Sentinel-2 satellite data covering the annual bloom events in the study area. The results showed that the coral reefs were affected by the blooms which is attributed to the nutrient enrichment caused by the human activities. This approach provides a standardized framework for monitoring the coral reefs and managing biodiversity in the Gulf of Mannar region.

*Dilipkumar Jayaraj, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8061-0663

Shanmugam Palanisamy, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5659-4464

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