Lafont, N. and Martin, S. 2025. Inventorier et caractériser les passes récifales du Pacifique Sud : Contribution au projet SOCPacific2R (Tutored project report).
Abstract: Through our Geomatics Master Degree program, we had the opportunity to complete a 4-month supervised project within the UMR-SENS (IRD, CIRAD, UPVM) at the Saint-Charles site of the Paul Valéry University of Montpellier. Our mission was to identify and inventory reef passages present on the islands of Grande-Terre and Les Îles Loyeauté archipelago (New Caledonia), those of Viti Levu, Vanua Levu, Ovalau, and Moturiki (Fiji), and finally, Tahiti and Moorea (French Polynesia). The next step was to define a set of criteria and methods to enrich the corpus of indicators characterizing them. This inventory work involved remote sensing the passes, developing indices, and selecting criteria to characterize these reef formations. We then had to make this database intelligible and accessible to the general public through a dynamic webmap interface that will facilitate communication between reef passage stakeholders and users and project members. This project allowed us to leverage and strengthen our skills in remote sensing, indicator calculation, and, more generally, Geographic Information Systems. We were also able to expand our web development knowledge by using new tools like OpenLayer 3. Finally, this project taught us how to receive, understand, translate, and successfully complete a project order; we were thus able to learn and develop our project management skills.
