Acta Oceanol. Sin., 2016, Vol. 35, No. 10, P.

11–19
DOI: 10.1007/s13131-016-0898-6
http://www.hyxb.org.cn
E-mail: hyxbe@263.net

Survey of reefs based on Landsat 8 operational land imager (OLI)

images in the Nansha Islands, South China Sea
DUAN Yuewei1, LIU Yongxue1, 2*, LI Manchun1, 2, ZHOU Minxi1, YANG Yuhao1
1 Department of Geographic Information Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China

2 Collaborative Innovation Center for the South China Sea Studies, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China

Received 20 December 2015; accepted 5 May 2016

©The Chinese Society of Oceanography and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016

Abstract
A detailed survey of the reefs in the Nansha Islands’ sea that are of strategic importance is conducive to their
future development. In this study, a total of 50 Landsat 8 operational land imager (OLI) images were used to
analyze the geological features and spectral characteristics of the Nansha reefs. The exposed islands/sandbanks,
reef flats and sub-tidal reefs were identified with the near-infrared band, the red and green bands, and the blue
band, respectively. Based on the relationships among various characteristics and bands illustrated in the OLI
images, the maximum between-cluster variance threshold algorithm (OTSU method) and the mathematical
morphology were employed to extract characteristic parameters of the spatial geometry of the reefs from top to
bottom, which were subsequently operated by a series of post-processing methods such as vectorization,
simplification and topological analysis. Among the 132 standalone reefs and 16 atolls that are identified in the
study, four reefs have yet to be named in the Standard Names of Various Islands in the South China Sea and the
website Nansha Islands Online (http://www.nansha.org/). Another 24 ones are exposed to the atmosphere even
during high tides. Taiping Island with an area of 0.57 km2 represents the largest exposed geological feature. This
study demonstrated the applicability of medium-resolution satellite images to derive the coral reef information
effectively and thus provided information for the related departments that are responsible to manage the coast.
An improved resolution of multispectral bands with the panchromatic band in higher spatial resolution (15 m for
OLI image) is expected to provide an optimum satellite based approach to map marine habitats.
Key words: remote sensing, coral reefs, OLI imagery, Nansha Islands
Citation: Duan Yuewei, Liu Yongxue, Li Manchun, Zhou Minxi, Yang Yuhao. 2016. Survey of reefs based on Landsat 8 operational land
imager (OLI) images in the Nansha Islands, South China Sea. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 35(10): 11–19, doi: 10.1007/s13131-016-0898-6

1 Introduction (1975) pioneered the use of Landsat multi-spectral scanner

The South China Sea (SCS), with a coverage of approximately (MSS) images to map the geomorphology of Australia’s Great
two-thirds of China’s maritime territories, connects Eurasia with Barrier Reef. Palandro et al. (2003) proved the feasibility and ef-
Oceania and the Pacific Ocean and intersects the Indian Ocean fectiveness of using Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and En-
(Zhao and Shen, 2011). Among the four major islands in the SCS, hanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) data to monitor changes
Nansha (Spratly) Islands are the southernmost areas and have a in groups of coral reefs. With the developments in RS technology,
maximum number of reef distributions. It is urgent to conduct a various satellite platforms have been applied to reefs surveys, in-
comprehensive dynamic survey of coral reefs embedded in this cluding airborne (Brock et al., 2004), space-borne (Andréfouët et
region, as a basis for the control and development of the reef in al., 2003), in-situ surveys (Lim et al., 2009) and high resolution re-
the future. However, the conventional in-situ surveys in Nansha mote sensing data (Zou et al., 2012). Specific types of reefs identi-
Islands are almost impossible due to (1) the prospective huge fied by RS are dependent on multiple factors such as the sensors,
cost to monitor frequently the scattered Nansha Islands that are atmospheric transmissivity, roughness of the ocean surface, wa-
far from the mainland; (2) the highly complicated hydrological ter quality and water depth (Mumby et al., 2004). Rationale of
environments of the sea, and the resultant disturbance from ad- this kind of optical method is rooted in the different water penet-
verse weather conditions on surveys; and (3) difficulty to get ac- rating ability among various spectral wavelengths. Lubin et al.
cess to a number of the reefs in the SCS. (2001) reported that the ideal wavelength for data extraction from
Remote sensing (RS) technique, with the merit of large in- coral reefs was within the spectral range of 400–600 nm. Further-
formation capacity, huge observation scope, high accuracy and more, Call et al. (2003) reported that the best performance was
speed, has become a primary tool for reef monitoring and evalu- achieved at 515–580 nm. Experiments based on simulations
ation (Holden and LeDrew, 1998, 1999; Lubin et al., 2001; Hoch- (Hochberg et al., 2003; Kutser et al., 2003) or actual values
berg et al., 2003, Hochberg and Atkinson, 2003). Smith et al. (Mumby et al., 1997; Holden and LeDrew, 1999) have indicated
Foundation item: The National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program) under contract No.
2012AA12A406; the National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract Nos 41471068, 41171325, and J1103408; the Program for
New Century Excellent Talents in University under contract No. NCET-12-0264; the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu
Higher Education Institutions (PAPD).
* Corresponding author, E-mail: yongxue@nju.edu.cn
12 DUAN Yuewei et al. Acta Oceanol. Sin., 2016, Vol. 35, No. 10, P. 11–19
that three to six types of sub-tidal habitats could be distinguished
using Landsat TM/ETM+ data, SPOT High Resolution Visible
(HRV) data, and Advanced Space-borne Thermal Emission and
Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) data. With these data, scientists
were able to achieve an overall accuracy rate of approximately
60%–75%. Despite the existence of numerous studies, algorithms
for extracting and classifying satellite images of coral reefs are
still dependent on visual interpretation and supervised classifica-
tion schemes. Moreover, studies by researchers in China (Zou et
al., 2006; Chen et al., 2007; Hu et al., 2010; Zou et al., 2012) were
mainly focused on some typical reefs of regional scale. Therefore,
it is necessary to develop a prompt strategy to apply the RS tech-
nique to conduct large-scaled surveys for diverse coral reefs and
to constrain the current conditions of the Nansha Islands reefs in
a timely manner.
In this study, RS and geographic information technologies
were utilize to monitor and survey the reefs in the Nansha Is-
lands. The results are expected to serve as a legitimate scientific
framework and technical tool to update the information of the
reefs on the Nansha Islands effectively and efficiently, eventually
contributing to a proper management, development and protec-
tion of the reefs.
2 Materials and methods
2.1 Study area
Located in the southern tip of the SCS (3°58′–11°55′N,
109°57′–117°50′E, Figs 1a and b), Nansha Islands are composed of
more than 200 islands, reefs, banks and shoals. With a total water
surface area of approximately 82.3×104 km2, this islands stretches
897 km from north (Xiongnan Bank) to south (Zengmu Shoal),
Fig. 1. The location of the study area. International boundary Nine-Dotted Line and coastline data are from South China Sea Ocean
Data Center; depth and elevation data are from British Oceanographic Data Centre.
and 916 km from east (Haima Shoal) to west (Wan’an Bank) (Gao
and Liu, 2009). Diurnal tide dominates the Nansha Islands. For
instance, the average tidal range is 0.5–1.0 m near the Yongshu
Reef, the maximum tidal range is 2.0 m with a possible maxim-
um range of 3–4 m. The annual average tidal range is 0.95 m and
the maximum tidal range is 2.05 m (Yu, 2000). According to stat-
istics from the tide station close to the Yongshu Reef, monthly
mean sea level from 1989 to 1992 displays a typically unimodal
distribution with a peak in September and a valley in January
(changing scope was 16 cm) (Yu, 2000).
2.2 Datasets
Coral reefs have relatively small surface areas and are sporad-
ically distributed, which results in great difficulty for reef discrim-
ination from low-resolution satellite optical images. However, it
cost too much to employ high-resolution satellite images. As a
compromise, Landsat 8 operational land imager (OLI) medium-
resolution images were used as spatial features for the collection
of data. A total of 50 images covering the Nansha Islands were ac-
quired from the U.S. Geological Survey website (http://earthex-
plorer.usgs.gov/) between April 2013 and May 2014 (Table 1).
The Landsat 8 OLI images contain nine bands and fully consider
the variations in band reflectance sensitivities of the different
surface features such as water, plants, soil, and rocks. The spatial
resolution of the multi-spectral bands and panchromatic band
were 30 and 15 m, respectively.
2.3 Image preprocessing
OLI data were processed differently depending on image
quality and characteristics of the site. Satellite images were re-
quired to be geometrically corrected with high precision to ob-
tain accurate information on reef positions. The collected Land-
 DUAN Yuewei et al. Acta Oceanol. Sin., 2016, Vol. 35, No. 10, P. 11–19 13

Table 1. List of the OLI images used

Acquisition date Path Row Acquisition date Path Row Acquisition date Path Row
2013/11/17 118 52 2013/04/30 119 54 2014/02/03 120 54
2014/02/05 118 52 2013/10/23 119 54 2014/03/07 120 54
2014/04/27 118 52 2014/02/28 119 54 2014/02/03 120 55
2014/05/28 118 52 2014/03/16 119 54 2014/03/07 120 55
2013/11/01 118 53 2013/11/24 119 55 2013/08/27 120 56
2013/11/17 118 53 2014/02/28 119 55 2014/03/07 120 56
2014/03/09 118 53 2014/03/16 119 55 2013/09/03 121 54
2013/08/29 118 54 2013/05/23 120 52 2014/01/25 121 54
2013/11/01 118 54 2013/10/30 120 52 2014/02/10 121 54
2014/02/05 118 54 2014/02/03 120 52 2014/02/26 121 54
2014/03/09 118 54 2014/02/19 120 52 2014/03/14 121 54
2014/01/27 119 52 2013/05/23 120 53 2014/01/25 121 55
2014/02/28 119 52 2013/11/15 120 53 2014/02/26 121 55
2013/04/30 119 53 2014/02/03 120 53 2014/03/05 122 54
2014/02/12 119 53 2014/02/19 120 53 2014/03/21 122 54
2014/02/28 119 53 2014/03/07 120 53 2014/03/05 122 55
2014/03/16 119 53 2013/05/23 120 54

sat-8 OLI images were applied topographic and geometric cor-
rections, radiometric calibration, and atmospheric corrections
that eliminated radiometric errors caused by atmospheric scat-
tering.
In this study, we fused the OLI multispectral and panchro-
matic data with the Gram–Schmidt transformation to take full
advantage of both sets of data and improve the spatial resolution
of the image. The Gram–Schmidt transformation is a method
commonly used in linear algebra and multivariate statistics to
eliminate redundant information through the orthogonalization
of matrices or multi-dimensional images (Clayton, 1971). All
components generated using the Gram–Schmidt transformation
are orthogonal, with no significant difference in the amount of
information contained, which helps to compensate for the issue
of data over-concentration caused by the principal components
analysis (PCA) transformation. Because the components are not
restricted by the bands, data with spatial texture are better pre-
served. In particular, spectral characteristics are well maintained
with high fidelity (Li et al., 2004).
The water surface area of the Nansha Islands is so extensive
that this region suffers complicated weather conditions, such as
cloudiness and precipitation that can influence the quality of
satellite images. Through the analysis of OLI images, we found
that the low- and high-value areas of the images are occupied by
deep seas and clouds, respectively. It is necessary to reduce cloud
interference to facilitate extraction for characteristics related to
the spatial geometry of the reefs by means of their phases and
bands, respectively. Thus, in this study, we applied masking tech-
niques to select the image parts with lower levels of cloudiness
for subsequent analyses, which improved the efficiency of data
processing.
2.4 Reef classification
The Nansha Islands include a large number of reefs in differ-
ent shapes and forms. In general, reefs that develop at 30 m or
less below the water surface have the greatest impact on human
activities at sea (Pan et al., 2002). In terms of clear water bodies,
optical sensing can penetrate to depth of 15–30 m (Hochberg et
al., 2003). As water depth increases, the spectral ability to distin-
guish coral reefs with waters gradually declines. Given the clarity
of waters surrounding the Nansha Islands, the objects that were
clearly identifiable on the OLI images were determined as reefs.
The spatial variations in the intensities of marine hydro-
dynamic forces on coral reefs result in the significant regional dif-
ference of coral reefs (Sun et al., 2004). There is presently a lack of
consistent criteria for the classification of coral reefs. The Spe-
cifications for Chinese Nautical Charts issued by China’s State
Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision lists six types of
reefs: islands, hidden shoals, exposed reefs, drying reefs, rocks
awash and sunken reefs. Pan et al. (2002) categorized reefs in the
Nansha Islands into islands, sandbanks (also known as
sandbars), sunken reefs, banks and shoals.
Taking into account the aforementioned information and
spectral characteristics, this study classified the Nansha Islands
reefs into four classes based on their degree of exposure.
(1) Exposed islands/sandbanks: These areas are exposed
above the water surface even during high tides, including sand
banks, natural islands and artificial islands. Being above the
mean spring high water, these areas contain extremely low levels
of water. Therefore, the reflectance of ground objects is very high,
which allows these areas to be apparently reflected within the
near-infrared band.
(2) Reef flats: Located below the mean spring high water but
above the Chart Datum, these areas are exposed to the air sur-
face during low tide. In most cases, these areas are clearly
presented within the red and green bands.
(3) Sub-tidal reefs: These areas refer to the hidden reefs,
banks and shoals that are located below the Chart Datum. An ob-
vious spectral contrast was observed between the coral reefs and
seawater on the satellite images. The deep seawater here ap-
pears darker compared to surface waters, resulting in a more sig-
nificant attenuation of incident light. Therefore, these areas are
clearly illustrated in the blue band and have darker hues on false-
color OLI images so that we take the breaker zone as the bound-
aries between the reef flats and sub-tidal reefs.
(4) Lagoons: Most lagoons are shallow waters that are well
enclosed and isolated from the deep seas. The blue band is used
to distinguish these areas from the deep seas. However, the spec-
tral characteristics of lagoons with higher degrees of openness, as
those with broken atolls, are more similar to the deep seas. As a
result, it is difficult to distinguish them from deep seas using cur-
rent computer differentiation methods and visual judgments are
14 DUAN Yuewei et al. Acta Oceanol. Sin., 2016, Vol. 35, No. 10, P. 11–19

required. In this study, data were extracted from lagoons with
sinking, quasi-closed and half-open atolls rather than lagoons
with higher degrees of openness involved in atolls (e.g., the la-
goon of Liyue Bank).
2.5 Reefs feature analysis based on OLI images
Coral reef surface properties, reef forms and the degree of ex-
posure to the air vary. However, regular tidal fluctuations often
result in the same exposed parts of coral reefs having a similar
spectral response, whereas significant spectral differences exist
between different exposed parts of coral reefs. These differences
are usually distinguishable through the visible light and infrared
bands.
In terms of OLI imagery, Band 2 (450–515 nm, blue band) dis-
plays the strongest penetrating power as it suffers a minimal at-
tenuation under water, providing the maximal information for
researchers. Hence, it serves as a good tool to extract data on sub-
tidal reefs such as shoals, hidden banks as well as lagoons. With a
weaker penetrating power, Band 3 (525–600 nm, green band) is
used to derive data of sub-tidal reefs along with the blue band.
Band 4 (630–680 nm, red band) is used to explore reef flats with
its faint water-penetrating ability that is even weaker than the
green band. Band 5 (845–885 nm), the near-infrared band, is eas-
ily absorbed by water and cannot effectively penetrate water bod-
ies. It is used to distinguish the boundaries of water and land.
Band 5 is recognized for its advantage to identify clouds, fog, ve-
getation cover, island forms and other ground objects. Figure 2 il-
lustrates that in Band 5 of the OLI images, the boundaries
between water and non-water land are distinct and that the is-
lands, shoals, and artificial constructions are distinguishable.

Fig. 2. Comparison of sub-band data between QuickBird (RGB: 321) and Landsat 8 OLI.
 DUAN Yuewei et al. Acta Oceanol. Sin., 2016, Vol. 35, No. 10, P. 11–19 15

Hence, Band 5 is used to distinguish the exposed islands/sand-
banks. Stable reef images can be identified in multi-temporal re-
mote sensing images, where there is a higher degree of random-
ness for clouds in such images. Therefore, we analyzed images of
the same region to eliminate the effects of clouds from time-
series Landsat OLI images. The reef flats as well as exposed is-
lands/sandbanks can be clearly detected in the RS image using
Band 3, whereas the sub-tidal reefs are hardly distinguishable. As
displayed in Fig. 2, Band 2 can penetrate the water to reach the
bottoms of lagoons with depth less than 30 m (easily detected
with eyeballs) and no recognizable signals are emitted from the
bottoms of deeper seas. We extracted reef data based on the dif-

Fig. 3. Extraction results of exposed islands/sandbanks at the Nansha Islands (RGB: 432).
16 DUAN Yuewei et al. Acta Oceanol. Sin., 2016, Vol. 35, No. 10, P. 11–19

ferences in spectral characteristics between the exposed coral and their various responses to different bands, the maximum
reefs and the features of ground objects that had rapid radiation between-cluster variance threshold algorithm (i.e., OTSU meth-
decay with the increasing water depth. od) was used to extract characteristic data related to the spatial
Considering the typical features types of different coral reefs geometry of the reefs from top to down. The result was corrected

Table 2. Area of exposed islands/sandbanks at the Nansha Islands (unit: km2)

Name EISA RFA SRA LA Name EISA RFA SRA LA
Qiongtai Reef 0.01 1.65 0.30 – Anbo Cay 0.09 0.39 0.57 –
Yongshu Reef 0.02 26.58 45.09 40.92 Nanyue Island 0.10 1.44 1.15 –
Shuanghuang Cay 0.02 5.65 10.62 – Yangxin Cay 0.11 1.72 4.26 –
Feixin Island 0.02 0.84 – – Hongxiu Island 0.15 2.43 0.81 –
Zhongzhou Reef 0.04 1.24 1.88 – Beizi Cay 0.19 1.66 – –
Ranqing Cay 0.04 0.51 0.06 – Siling Reef 0.20 17.63 – 6.40
Central Reef 0.05 0.60 1.16 0.43 Nanwei Island 0.22 1.08 0.77 –
Chigua Reef 0.06 6.77 1.65 0.21 Xiyue Island 0.23 1.64 2.41 –
West Reef 0.07 5.26 24.29 12.95 Nanzi Island 0.25 0.69 – –
Dunqian Cay 0.08 1.21 7.27 – Danwan Reef 0.36 6.13 – 4.25
Jinghong Island 0.08 1.05 0.56 – Zhongye Island 0.51 2.07 – –
Mahuan Island 0.09 0.55 – – Taiping Island 0.57 1.27 2.46 –
Note: EISA represents exposed islands/sandbanks area, RFA reef flat area, SRA sub-tidal reef area, and LA Lagoon area.

Table 3. Area of major coral reefs without exposed islands/sandbanks at the Nansha Islands (unit: km2)
Name RFA SRA LA Name RFA SRA LA Name RFA SRA LA
Anda Reef 10.81 17.15 – Huanglu Reef 2.26 – 0.60 Renjun Bank – 25.61 8.78
Anle Reef 2.13 0.09 0.38 Huo’ai Reef 5.21 0.71 0.36 Ren’ai Reef 16.46 3.06 33.12
Aonan Shoal – 6.47 – Huoxing Reef 1.10 – – Riji Reef 7.46 2.39 0.63
Bai Reef 35.75 8.06 19.01 Jiyang Reef 0.78 0.22 – Sanjiao Reef 7.15 – 4.45
Banlu Reef 0.66 – – Jianzhang Reef 3.80 – 5.06 Shipanzai – 0.71 –
Banyue Reef 6.59 – 8.21 Jindun Shoal – 43.45 – Tanmen Reef – 0.78 –
Bei’an Reef – 1.77 0.23 Nameless reef in Jiuzhang Reefs 0.54 – – Tiexian Reef 5.32 – –
Bisheng Reef 10.31 1.92 2.52 Kangxi Reef – 1.05 – Tiezhi Reef 2.70 – 10.51
Bianshen Reef 0.98 0.38 – Kugui Reef 2.49 10.36 – Nameless Reef 1 – 8.20 17.96
Bolan Reef 2.46 17.89 – Langkou Reef 17.83 – 1.50 Nameless Reef 2 – 12.58 –
Boji Reef 3.98 – 0.89 Lesi Shoal – 21.46 16.40 Wumie Reef 9.27 – 5.91
Changjun Shoal – 2.93 – Liyue Nan Reef – 18.73 – Wufangbei 2.58 – –
Daxian Reef 19.06 3.98 1.69 Lizhun Bank – 28.27 – Wufangnan 2.16 – –
Dayuan Reef – 118.27 696.91 Liumen Reef 25.57 9.09 43.33 Wufangtou 1.83 – –
Nameless reef in Daoming Reefs 1.40 – – Longxia Reef 0.73 0.55 0.28 Wufangwei 0.35 – –
Donghua Reef – 14.95 – Lusha Reef 1.73 – 0.28 Wufangxi 3.23 – –
East Reef 20.70 4.39 18.68 Meijiu Reef 3.11 – – Ximen Reef 2.85 0.65 0.25
Dongmen Reef 2.56 0.14 0.22 Meiji Reef 12.38 – 33.93 Xianbin Reef 15.94 28.00 51.55
Dongpo Reef – 22.48 – Mengzi Reef 2.20 23.95 – Xian’e Reef 7.63 – 12.39
Erjiao Reef 2.19 – – Mengyi Shoal – 2.99 2.95 Xiantou Reef 2.49 – –
Faxian Shoal – 1.59 – Nailuo Reef 2.45 – – Xiaonanxun Reef 1.07 3.43 –
Fulusi Reef 2.32 – – Nan’an Reef – 5.43 – Xiaoxian Reef 0.39 – –
Gongzhen Reef 0.32 0.41 – Nanhai Reef 12.77 – 4.88 Xinyi Reef 5.93 – 1.82
Gongshi Reef 2.83 – – Nanhua Reef 15.65 1.32 13.40 Xiongnan Reef – 24.10 –
Guangxing Reef 8.17 – 5.49 Nanmen Reef 1.30 2.06 – Yangming Reef – 10.28 –
Guangxingzai Reef 8.27 – 2.57 Nanping Reef 1.07 – 0.13 Yijing Reef – 0.53 –
Guangya Bank 44.15 – Nantong Reef 0.86 0.29 0.84 Yinbo Shoal – 2.79 –
Guihan Reef 2.17 0.97 – Nanxun Reef 2.00 4.12 – Yongdeng Shoal – 37.60 57.12
Hai’an Reef – 1.98 1.09 Niuchelun Reef 1.23 – 0.31 Yongshi Bank – 48.89 –
Haikang Shoal – 3.22 0.26 Niu’e Reef 8.90 2.96 – Zhangxi Reef 1.00 1.15 0.77
Haikou Reef 1.92 – 1.36 Pengbo Shoal 1.59 – 1.33 Chang Shoal 38.37 –
Haima Bank – 25.69 66.85 Pengbobao Reef – 9.67 – Changxian Reef 3.06 0.39
Haining Reef – 1.39 0.87 Polang Reef – 16.12 – Zhongxiao Bank 34.95 93.74
Houteng Reef 3.08 3.12 – Qiong Reef 0.76 0.51 – Zhuquan Reef 1.09 0.46 –
Hua Reef 0.94 – – Quyuan Reef 0.67 1.33 – Zhuibi Reef 8.12 – 7.18
Huayang Reef 6.13 1.29 – Ranqingdong Reef 1.70 0.71 – Zi –Zong Banks – 46.17 229.78
 DUAN Yuewei et al. Acta Oceanol. Sin., 2016, Vol. 35, No. 10, P. 11–19 17

Fig. 4. Extraction results of major coral reefs at the Nansha Islands (RGB: 432).

by the mathematical morphology method. Finally, smoothing of
the raster vector boundaries was conducted to achieve the ex-
traction for geospatial data from the Nansha Islands reefs. For la-
goons with relatively high degrees of openness, and shoals and
hidden reefs that were difficult to distinguish, related adjust-
ments were carried out based on visual interpretations.
We referred to China’s Standard Names of Various Islands in
the South China Sea in order to add names and attributes of each
reef to the database and to calculate their areas accurately.
18 DUAN Yuewei et al. Acta Oceanol. Sin., 2016, Vol. 35, No. 10, P. 11–19
3 Results
Based on Landsat 8 OLI images, we identified the spatial mor-
phological features (Figs 3 and 4), spatial distributions and sur-
face areas (Tables 2 and 3) of 132 standalone reefs (24 reefs ex-
posed to the air and 108 submerged during high tide) over the
Nansha Islands.
3.1 Exposed islands/sandbanks analysis
The relevant spatial features and distributions of the 24 reefs
that are exposed to the air during high tide are exhibited in Fig. 3.
Only ten of them have exposed surface areas of over 0.1 km2.
Taiping Island has the largest exposed area amounting to 0.57
km2 followed by Zhongye Island at 0.51 km2. An artificial island
was built on the Yongshu Reef. Despite a mere exposed area of
0.02 km2, its reef flats and sub-tidal reefs have areas amounting to
26.58 km2 and 45.09 km2, respectively. Six of the reefs in concern
have lagoons and the largest is 40.92 km2 at the Yongshu Reef.
The area of the entire reef base is relatively large. Details of the
various exposed areas are shown in Table 2. More information in
detail can be acquired by high-resolution image.
3.2 Major coral reefs without exposed islands/sandbanks
The distributions and special features of the other 108 isol-
Table 4. Area of composite atolls at the Nansha Islands (unit: km2)
Name EISA RFA SRA LA
Andu Bank – 8.27 176.94 656.09
Antang Bank – 31.55 103.36 – Nanwei Bank
Beikang Shoals – 1.07 81.09 352.00
Daoming Banks 0.24 12.70 73.14 275.09
Feixin-Mahuan Islands 0.11 1.39 64.72 88.15
Jiuzhang Reefs 0.19 37.44 38.61 386.37
Liyue Bank – – 323.94 – Zhenghe Reefs
Nanfang Bank – – 92.38 956.62
4 Discussion
The analyses in this study are entirely based on medium-res-
olution images and reflectance features of coral reefs. Various
data related to coral reefs, including exposed islands/sandbanks,
reef flats, sub-tidal reefs, and lagoons, can be effectively extrac-
ted from Landsat 8 OLI images based on the water-penetrating
abilities of light at different bands. The results obtained indicate
that the Landsat OLI data are capable of mapping the reef geo-
morphology and habitat. The depth correction technique should
be systematically applied because of its simplicity and potential
benefit (Andréfouët et al., 2003). The Nansha Islands are situated
far from the mainland and the water is generally clear. We classi-
fied the OLI data on the islands with only four classes, which is
not a too complex classification. We suggest that depth correc-
tion technique be applied when the higher-resolution data are
used and more comprehensive classifications of coral reefs are
required in the future work.
Several issues need to be further studied in spite of the results
obtained above. The first is clouds. Manual mask was used to ac-
count for the high level of cloudiness over the Nansha’s seas, fol-
lowed by the use of multi-temporal images over the identical re-
gion to eliminate the effects of clouds. In the future, a cloud de-
tection algorithm should be developed to eliminate these effects.
In addition, manual patching of images is needed at the later
stage. As water depth increases, the distinguishability of the spec-
tra of coral reefs declines. The spectral radiances recorded by a
ated unexposed reefs during high tide are displayed Fig. 4 and
Table 3. The lagoon with the largest surface area of 696.91 km2
was found on the Dayuan Bank, 73 were exposed during low tide.
Bai Reef, a typical enclosed atoll, has the largest Reef flat area of
35.75 km2 and a lagoon with a surface area of 19.01 km2, followed
by the Liumen Reef with a reef flat of 25.57 km2.
Four of the coral reefs were not included in the Standard
Names of Various Islands in the South China Sea. Two are oval-
shaped sub-tidal reefs that remain submerged even during low
tide. Located north of Zong Banks, their areas are 8.20 km2 and
12.58 km2, respectively. The third reef is located between Nany-
ue Island (of the Daoming Reefs) and Yangxin Cay, and it has a
reef flat area of 1.40 km2. The fourth is located between Bianshen
Reef (of Jiuzhang Reefs) and Zhangxi Reef. The area of its reef
flats is 0.54 km2.
3.3 Composite atolls analysis
Details of the 16 complex atolls identified, including the
Daoming Reesfs and Jiuzhang Reefs, are shown in Table 4. Seven
of these have sandbank developments. Among them, the
Zhenghe Reefs have the largest surface area, with an exposed
sandbank and lagoon of 0.84 km2 and 566.55 km2, respectively.
The reef flats of the Jiuzhang Reef are the largest at 37.44 km2.
Name EISA RFA SRA LA
Nankang Shoals 0.01 1.65 7.24 3.06
– – 99.63 611.38
Shuangzi Reefs 0.44 7.62 22.52 43.95
Wufang Reef – 10.15 17.05 55.39
Yuya Shoal – – 69.50 104.18
Chang Bank-Mengzi Reef – 2.20 100.69 76.84
0.84 22.49 107.08 566.55
Zhongye Reefs 0.51 21.31 38.09 21.57
sensor are therefore dependent on both the reflectance of the
substrata and depth. In this study, since the coral reefs were clas-
sified only according to spectral features difference, the shoals
and hidden banks located in the deeper waters were not prop-
erly differentiated, which requires a subsequent manual correc-
tion. Further research should be performed to devise an auto-
matic segmentation method and get more detailed information
of sub-tidal reefs by water correction. The last issue involves the
use of medium-resolution satellite images. Although these im-
ages provided useful target data for this survey of coral reefs, it is
necessary to combine these data with high-resolution satellite
images to acquire more accurate data of the reefs in the future.
5 Conclusions
In this study, we analyzed correlations between the reef types
of the Nansha Islands and Landsat 8 OLI image bands based on
fifty Landsat 8 OLI images acquired in 2013–2014. A hierarchical
segmentation strategy was used to extract data from all the coral
reefs of the Nansha Islands. The findings of this study were sum-
marized in the following points.
(1) Medium-resolution satellite images can be used to extract
data from coral reefs and mapping, which serve as target inform-
ation for detailed surveys over large-scale sea reef area. In this
study, we obtained the new information of coral reef in the Nan-
sha Islands, including data of the spatial distribution of 132 stan-
dalone reefs and 16 composite atolls. Among these, four coral
 DUAN Yuewei et al. Acta Oceanol. Sin., 2016, Vol. 35, No. 10, P. 11–19
reefs are not included in the Standard Names of Various Islands
in the South China Sea. Two of the four are located north of Zong
Banks; the other two are located between Nanyue Island and
Yangxin Cay and between Bianshen Reef and Zhangxi Reef, re-
spectively.
(2) During this study, data on 24 exposed shoal-reefs were ex-
tracted. The Taiping Island has the largest exposed area (0.57
km2). The Bai Reef has the largest area (35.75 km2) in terms of
reef flats, followed by the Yongshu Reef (26.58 km2). Develop-
ment of lagoons was identified in 55 coral reefs. For standalone
reefs, the lagoon with the largest surface area was found on the
Dayuan Bank (696.91 km2). Seven of the composite atolls have
exposed islands/sandbanks. The Zhenghe Reefs have the largest
exposed islands/sandbanks area and the Jiuzhang Reefs have the
largest reef flat area.
Acknowledgements
We also would like to thank all the anonymous reviewers for
their constructive suggestions to improve the manuscript.
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