AUTHOR=Johnson Faith M. , Ortiz Alejandra C. TITLE=Finding patterns of atoll morphometrics at a range of spatial scales JOURNAL=Frontiers in Earth Science VOLUME=11 YEAR=2023 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/earth-science/articles/10.3389/feart.2023.1123339 DOI=10.3389/feart.2023.1123339 ISSN=2296-6463 ABSTRACT=
Small Island Nations, often comprised of Atolls, are at considerable risk of climate change impacts from sea-level rise to coral acidification to increasing cyclone intensity; understanding how they will change in the coming century is vital for climate mitigation and resiliency. However, the morphology of atolls are not well quantified or summarized. In this work, we calculate modern atoll morphometrics on a global scale including 3,786 motu and 593 reef flats on 154 atolls. Temporal composites of Landsat imagery are created for 4 years (2015–2018), and are classified into motu, reef flat, open water/lagoon