Chesapeake Bay Program Office Grant for Automated Submerged Aquatic Vegetation Mapping in Chesapeake Bay

There are two overarching objectives of this RFA, which EPA is seeking project proposals to address. The first objective is to map the density and distribution of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) accurately, efficiently, and effectively throughout the mesohaline habitat in Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries from high-resolution (approximately 4m per pixel resolution or less) satellite imagery using automated detection and classification methods, and, in doing so, develop and document a protocol that would inform Bay-wide SAV assessment efforts. The second objective is to develop and document a robust, repeatable method of generating vector-based polygons that:

1. represent SAV beds from the pixel-based SAV classifications developed under Objective 1 that are calibrated to results generated from hand-delineated SAV mapping of beds as estimated from the present SAV survey protocol; and

2. applies the polygon bed delineation method to SAV classification results from high resolution satellite imagery to produce SAV cover maps of Zannichellia palustris that are suitable for summarizing acreage and density throughout the mesohaline portion of Chesapeake Bay.