Clark Labs has received a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to create a baseline map of coastal habitats and the distribution of shrimp mariculture in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. The analysis is based on a digital classification of LANDSAT 8 remotely sensed imagery and will also provide the basis for the evaluation of coastal habitats at risk for future conversion to shrimp farming.

“The Moore Foundation is excited to partner with Clark Labs to study the coastal habitats of Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia and their use for shrimp aquaculture,” stated Dr. Mary Turnipseed, a Fellow with the Marine Conservation Initiative of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. She added, “Clark Labs will draw on their deep expertise in geospatial analysis to develop a baseline map of the current landscape-scale impacts of shrimp farms and to identify coastal areas at risk for future conversion to aquaculture.”

The project will require the classification of 34 LANDSAT 8 images. “LANDSAT 8 provides us with a nice combination of cost effectiveness, synoptic coverage, spectral resolution and the ability to pan sharpen the critical bands needed for water penetration,” said Dr. Ronald Eastman, Principal Investigator and Director of Clark Labs. “This, in combination with the wide range of soft and hard image classification routines in the IDRISI system, gives us the opportunity to develop a protocol specially tailored to the needs of the project.”

About the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation believes in bold ideas that create enduring impact in the areas of science, environmental conservation and patient care. Intel co-founder Gordon and his wife Betty established the foundation to create positive change around the world and at home in the San Francisco Bay Area. Environmental conservation efforts promote sustainability, protect critical ecological systems and align conservation needs with human development. Patient care focuses on eliminating preventable harms and unnecessary healthcare costs through meaningful engagement of patients and their families in a supportive, redesigned healthcare system. Science looks for opportunities to transform — or even create — entire fields by investing in early-stage research, emerging fields and top research scientists. Visit Moore.org or follow @MooreEnviro.