Aerial photography of coral reefs

Abstract

[Extract] Because of the complexity of coral reefs and difficulties in ground survey, the reef environment was one of the earliest to take advantage of remote sensing techniques (Hopley, 1978). Both aircraft and balloons (e.g., Rützler, 1978) formed the initial platforms, usually for vertically mounted cameras using black and white film. On the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), the earliest vertical aerial photography was in 1925, when the Royal Australian Air Force photographed the Low Isles at a scale of 1:2,400 in 1928 for the Yonge Expedition (see Great Barrier Reef Committee). Simultaneously, Umbgrove (1928, 1929) was photographing reefs in Indonesia to aid the extensive work he was carrying out there.