Monitoring Seagrass/Seaweed Vegetation and Tidal Flat Topography with Aerial Photographs Taken by a Consumer Drone over the Coastal Seto Inland Sea, Japan

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  • TEZUKA Naoaki
    National Research and Development Agency Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency National Research Institute of Fisheries and Environment of Inland Sea
  • KAJIHARA Naoto
    National Research and Development Agency Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency National Research Institute of Fisheries and Environment of Inland Sea
  • SHIMABUKURO Hiromori
    National Research and Development Agency Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency National Research Institute of Fisheries and Environment of Inland Sea
  • YOSHIDA Goro
    National Research and Development Agency Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency National Research Institute of Fisheries and Environment of Inland Sea
  • ENOMOTO Koichiro
    Niigata University
  • TODA Masashi
    Kumamoto University

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Other Title
  • 市販ドローンを活用した瀬戸内海の藻場・干潟空撮モニタリング
  • シハン ドローン オ カツヨウ シタ セトナイカイ ノ モバ ・ ヒガタ クウサツモニタリング

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Abstract

Recent rapid developments in UAV （unmanned aerial vehicle）, or drone, technology have made it easier than ever to take aerial photographs. In this study, we tested the efficacy of using a consumer drone as a tool for aerial photography studies of seagrass/seaweed vegetation, tidal flat topography mapping, and epibenthic fauna research. By using the consumer drone（ DJI Phantom 3 Professional） and an autonomous flight planning application （Pix4Dcapture） both seagrass/seaweed vegetation and tidal flat topography were photographed from a vertical position at a height of 100 m. Oblique drone aerial photographs were also taken at the tidal flat to map a wider area than that captured by the vertical imagery. The orthomosaic maps were created by using PhotoScan Sfm software on both the vertical and oblique photographs. Tidal flat epibenthic fauna was photographed from a height of 2 m and 10 m. In general the equipment system used in this study was suitable for the seagrass/seaweed vegetation and the tidal flat topography mapping, at least for objective areas that were relatively small （less than 1 km2）, but it was not suitable for the tidal flat epibenthic fauna study. Hence, improvements to the equipment system, e.g., higher resolution of images, zoom control, and a mechanism to estimate the image area would be valuable for future marine research applications.

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