Reconstruction of spectra from color and linear spectral unmixing of benthic end members

Abstract

Spectral information is an important cue in determining coral reef end members. A commercial camera may be able to determine spectra using the color to spectra transformation. Color signals of two end members, sand and seagrass were mixed, rendered in RGB, and reconstructed. Principal components from a spectral database of benthic objects gave better reconstructions than those from nonbenthic objects. In the above-water scenario, linear spectral unmixing was able to determine the dominant end members in 10 out of 11 different sand-seagrass color signal mixtures.