Keivan Kabiri

Iranian National Institute for Oceanography and Atmospheric Science | INIO · Department of Oceanographic Data and Remote Sensing

The improvement in the capabilities of Landsat-8 imagery to retrieve bathymetric information in shallow coastal waters was examined. Landsat-8 images have an additional band named coastal/aerosol, Band 1: 435–451 nm in comparison with former generation of Landsat imagery. The selected Landsat-8 operational land image (OLI) was of Chabahar Bay, loca...

The present study aimed to examine the capabilities of a low-cost and standard drone (namely, the DJI™ Phantom 4 Pro) for mapping of coral reefs in shallow coastal waters. To this end, a coral site in Kish Island, located in the northern Persian Gulf, was selected as the study area, wherein other methods had been previously practiced to generate ma...

This study aimed to propose a method for the estimation of the Secchi disk depth (Zsd) values in the northern Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Gulf of Oman (N-PG-SH-GO), based on MODIS-Kd(490) data. The field-observed Zsd values were collected during seven research cruises conducted by a research vessel between 2018 and 2021. A total num...

In this study, the Secchi disk depth (Zsd) values as an indicator of seawater clarity/transparency were estimated using the ESA (European Space Agency) Sentinel-3A and Sentinel-3B OLCI (S3/OLCI) satellite data in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman (PG&GO). To do so, two procedures were evaluated including an existing methodology developed by Dor...

This study investigates underwater depth estimation in the coastal region of Kish Island (KI) in the northern Persian Gulf (PG), Iran, using data from three satellite sensors: WorldView-2 (WV2), Sentinel-2B MSI (S2), and Landsat-8 OLI (L8). Field measurements were conducted with a portable echosounder and a handheld GPS device, resulting in a datas...

GHANAATIAN, H., SAFAHIEH, A., KABIRI, K. & SAVARI, A. 2024. Status of terns on Nakhiloo Island, Persian Gulf, with emphasis on Lesser Crested Terns Thalasseus bengalensis. Marine Ornithology 52: 373-377. http://doi.org/10.5038/2074-1235.52.2.1604 Lesser Crested Tern Thalasseus bengalensis (LCT) is the second most abundant tern in the Persian Gulf r...

Evaluating the Sea surface temperature (SST) pattern of the Persian Gulf is considered as a key parameter in understanding global climate changes. The present study aims to examine and compare the above-mentioned changes in the Asian continent and other oceans in the world. The correlation of the aforementioned parameter with the volume of warm wat...

The ecological dynamics of Mangroves of Dayyer City (MDC) in the northern Persian Gulf were assessed. This study employs satellite-based data, drone-based photography, and field measurements/observations to assess changes in mangrove areas, investigate human-made structures affecting the MDC. Satellite imagery from Google Earth, spanning from 2011...

Among the important indicators of sustainable development evaluation are the human development index, environmental performance index, urban sustainable development index, and regional economic development index. Investigation of the ecological conditions of seabirds over time is one of the indicators in understanding the environmental performance...

Through population growth, the passage of time, and the advancement of technology, development inevitably happens, but how to create development and pay attention to its sustainability by considering various indicators and comprehensive foresight is principal. Examining the biological and ecological conditions of seabirds over time at Musa multi-br...

Coral reefs face numerous threats from natural and anthropogenic stressors, impacting their health and associated ecosystems. This study investigates a method for optimal artificial reef (AR) deployment around Kish Island (KI) in the Persian Gulf (PG) to mitigate environmental impacts caused by marine tourism and safeguard coral reefs. Utilizing ge...

There are several tern species that breed in Iran during summer. Usually they nest on safe and uninhabited islands of the Persian Gulf. Here, we report an unusual occurrence at the Iran-Reshadat shipwreck ~10 km from Imam Hassan port in Bahregan Bay, Bushehr Province. At this site, Bridled Terns had laid eggs on the sunken ship upon three deck pill...

In this study, the Secchi disk depth (Zsd) values as an indicator of seawater clarity/transparency were estimated using the ESA (European Space Agency) Sentinel-3A and − 3A OLCI (S3/OLCI) satellite data in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman (PG&GO). To do so, two procedures were evaluated including an empirical methodology developed by Doron et...

The Persian Gulf is a peripheral sea that is quite turbid and visually complicated. Because of the complicated oceanic and atmospheric optical features of this maritime area, satellite remotely sensed chlorophyll-a (Chl-a, mg m-3) outputs have been used extensively. In this study, the seasonality and magnitude of Level-3 Chl-a time-series products,...

A cross-sensor-based approach using Landsat-8 OLI (L8/OLI) and Sentinel-2A MSI (S2A/MSI) imagers was examined to estimate bathymetric data in nearshore coastal waters. An L8/OLI image and an S2A/MSI image (Acquisition date: November 16, 2017) were selected from Nayband Bay, the southern region of Iran. In addition, precise bathymetric data for the...

In this study, the Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (L8/OLI) and the Sentinel-2 Multi-Spectral Instrument (S2A/MSI) satellite data were employed to estimate the Secchi disk depth (Z sd) values as an indicator for water clarity in the near-shore zone. As the revisit cycle of L8 and S2A satellites is 16 and 5 days, which means they may have a harmon...

Climate change effects on coral reefs

The present study was to evaluate the frequency distribution of dust events by analysing on long-term data over the northern Persian Gulf (NPG). The study results accordingly revealed that the Persian Gulf (PG) on the northwest had been affected by the dust deposition transported more often by strong northwesterly winds, along with the atmospheric...

Lake Urmia in Iran, the largest land-locked water body in Iran and the second largest hypersaline lake in the world has experienced a drastic 90% decline in its surface area due to decrease in water supply beginning in the mid-1990s. The effect of climate variability under current warming condition versus the human induced hydro-chemical imbalance...

Climate change is affecting ecosystems, habitats and species by increasing velocity and continuity. The distribution of birds, like most plants and animals, is limited by climatic factors such as temperature, precipitation and wind. In fact, climate is one of the most important factors in determining the abundance of birds. High sensitivity to weat...

Ongoing global change and its direct environmental impacts, in addition to securing economic transition to the post-oil era, could trigger complex socio-economic and political crises in oil-dependent economies of the Persian Gulf Region (PGR). To evaluate the role of climate change and related policies in degrading the environment and its socio-eco...

Despite frequent historical documents on shipping and trade routes in the Caspian Sea since early historical dates, the maritime archaeological evidence remains largely undiscovered. Exposing a shipwreck in southwest corner of the Caspian Sea at the shoreline of Qoroq village in Guilan Province of Iran provides an opportunity to study some frames o...

A low-cost standard drone (DJI™ Phantom 4 Pro) has been employed to map the ecosystems and features in coastal areas in the northern Persian Gulf. The Pix4Dcapture® mobile application was selected as a user friendly and simple app to perform an automated and customized drone flight over the selected study area in Nayband Bay, Bushehr province. The...

Since the state of ice masses is known as one of the most sensitive indicators of climate change, studies on the Polar Regions are of particular importance. Antarctica is the southernmost continent on Earth in the southern hemisphere, surrounded by oceanic waters. Despite international administration and a relatively low human presence, Antarctica...

The cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms have been observed, over the last decade, in several regions of the southern Caspian Sea, becoming a major threat to human health and aquatic life. The present study aims to develop two models to quantify cyanobacterial concentration in the Caspian Sea using artificial neural networks and multiple band linear...

In this study Geographic Information System (GIS) and System Dynamics (SD) were used for assessment of the impacts of storm surges on coastal communities. Storm Surges and coastal flooding were simulated using Advanced CIRCulation (ADCIRC) and Simulating Waves Nearshore (SWAN) numerical models, and spatial features of water depths, wave heights and...

Chabahar Bay is a strategic and productive estuary in the south-east of Iran (north of Oman Sea). It is an optically complex bay, and its Chl-a content variations never studied. In this study, Red-Green Chlorophyll Index (RGCI) algorithm for estimating accurate Chl-a content was tested, validated and applied to Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrome...

The Persian Gulf is an important area in terms of ecological values and fisheries resources. It also provides a supportive spawning and nursery areas for the finfish and shellfish communities, whose survival depends on the availability of the neustonic zooplankton. Neuston composition, abundance, and distribution were studied during two oceanograph...

The bleaching events have become more repeated worldwide and may affect the health of coral communities permanently and irreversible. The most important reason of this phenomenon is high amounts of sea temperature, where it is more efficient if it remains high for a long period of time. Continuous measuring of sea temperature may help us to assess...

High spatial resolution WorldView-2 (WV2) satellite imagery coupled with field observations have been utilized for mapping the coral reefs around Hendorabi Island in the northern Persian Gulf. In doing so, three standard multispectral bands (red, green, and blue) were selected to produce a classified map for benthic habitats. The in-situ observatio...

MODIS satellite imageries with minimal cloud cover (<25%) were used to extract cyanobacteria index, floating algea index, fluorescence line height, chlorophyll-a and sea surface temperature products, for seven days concurrent with blooms. The results showed a positive correlation between cyanobacteria index and chlorophyll-a (R = 0.74, p ≤ 0.05 and...

Having precise depth values is a necessity for benthic habitat mapping using multispectral satellite imagery. Usually, the reliable field measured bathymetric information is not available in most of cases; hence it is necessary to estimate depth values directly from remotely sensed data. This study aimed to examine the linear and ratio transform me...

The response of large water-bodies to global change in terms of ecosystem services and economical value is a major concern. The Caspian Sea, the world’s largest enclosed water-body, has a poorly-known water-level history, but observed changes are a hundred times faster than recent global sea-level rise. This ancient lake, characterised by brackish...

Cyanobacterial blooms in the earth are considered as one cause of water poisoning and a threat to the environment and human health. The Caspian Sea has experienced this phenomenon several times during the past decade. Since this phenomenon is associated with harmful environmental impacts, it is essential to predict, identify and monitor it to manag...

The capabilities of Sentinel-2A imagery to determine bathymetric information in shallow coastal waters were examined. In this regard, two Sentinel-2A images (acquired on February and March 2016 in calm weather and relatively low turbidity) were selected from Nayband Bay, located in the northern Persian Gulf. In addition, a precise and accurate bath...

Coral reefs occupy less than 0.1% of the world's ocean surface but provide a home for 25% of all marine species. The 30 million inhabitants of atolls are almost totally dependent on coral reefs to live on. Different types of coral reefs are scattered in all around the Persian Gulf, as some of these benthic habitats are unique. The Persian Gulf, as...

During a general survey of corals around Bani Farur Island in early November 2016, the Yellow Band (YB) was observed on Poritiid (Fig. 1) corals at approximately 5 meter depth. The YB in Bani Farur did not extend a wide area and it was only observed in an isolated place northwest of the island. The YB forms a bright band of several centimeters in d...

In this study, the benefits of using Multispectral/Multitemporal Landsat-8 images to estimate depth values in near-shore coastal waters was examined, considering its new band (Coastal/Aerosol, Band-1: 435 to 451 nm) in comparison with previous Landsat imageries. In doing so, several images from Chabahar Bay (located in the south of Iran) were selec...

Field studies were conducted in a number of intertidal and offshore islands in the Persian Gulf between 2006 to 2013. SCUBA and skin diving surveys were conducted around Larak, Hormuz, Qeshm, Hengam, Farur, Kish, Lavan, Khark and Farsi islands in the northern region of the Persian Gulf. Marine invertebrates including nudibranchs were photographed u...

Biophysical properties of water undergo meaningful variations under red tide (RT) outbreak. A massive Cochlodinium polykrikoids RT began in the eastern Persian Gulf (PG) in October 2008 and extended to the northern PG in December 2008. It killed large fish and hampered marine industries and water desalination appliances. Yet monthly averages of sat...

This study examined the advantages of incorporating the new band of Landsat-8 OLI imagery (band 1: Coastal/Aerosol, 435-451 nm) to a model for estimation of Secchi disk depth (SDD) values (as an indicator for transparency) in near-shore coastal waters using multispectral bands. In doing so, Chabahar Bay in the southern part of Iran (north of Gulf o...

The aim of this paper was to study monsoon effects on polychaetes population structure in subtidal area based on some biodiversity indices. Sediments sampling was carried out by grab van-veen from 12 subtidal stations in three time periods (pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon). The physical and chemical parameters were also recorded. Mean density...

In this study report of Sternaspis thorsoni from Iranian coasts of northern Oman Sea was undertaken. Sternaspid polychaetes are usually found at different depths of marine habitats ranging from soft bottoms of coastal waters to deep-sea areas. Sternaspis thorsoni was identified as a new species by Sendall & Salazar-Vallejo in 2013.. Sternaspis thor...

Biophysical properties of water undergo serious variations under red tide (RT) outbreak. During RT conditions, algal blooms spread out in the estuarine, marine and fresh waters due to different triggering factors such as nutrient loading, marine currents, and monsoonal winds. The Persian Gulf (PG) was a talent region subjected to different RTs in r...

Validation of satellite derived sea surface temperature (SST) is necessary since satellite minus buoy SST (= bias) relies on atmospheric and oceanographic conditions and time periods. This research validates MODIS (Terra and Aqua) satellite daytime SST with buoy SST at the northern Persian Gulf. Sixteen dates during June 2011 to June 2015 were sele...

Spatio-temporal variability of SST and Chl-a evaluated using MODIS products from 2002 to 2013 in the Persian Gulf. Wavelet Transform was utilized to analyze the spatio-temporal stability and abnormality of MODIS SST and Chl-a. The stationary level of SST decreases from west to the east during summer to early autumn, and increases from late autumn t...

Caspian Sea level has undergone significant changes through time with major impacts not only on the surrounding coasts but also on offshore. This study reports a brackish water invasion on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea constructed from a multi-proxy analysis of sediment retrieved from the Langarud wetland The ground surface level of wetland...

Limited water supply is one of the major restrictions in development and agricultural activities in numerous countries, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Wetlands are constantly affected by anthropogenic factors such as engineering projects and landscaping. Therefore, simulation of hydrologic processes and modeling the factors involved are...

The capability of Degree Heating Weeks index (DHWs) was examined for prediction of bleaching events in the coral reef communities of the Kish Island located in the north of the Persian Gulf. In doing so, weekly Sea Surface Temperature (SST) values (in 1°×1° spatial resolution) prepared by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), coup...

Wetlands are regarded as one of the most important ecosystems on Earth due to various ecosys-tem services provided by them such as habitats for biodiversity, water purification, sequestration, and flood attenuation. The Al Hawizeh wetland in the Iran-Iraq border was selected as a study area to evaluate the changes. Maximum likelihood classification...

A novel technique of aerial photography was ex-amined using parasailing for mapping the coral reefs located in the coastal waters of Kish Island (central north of the Persian Gulf). A total number of 11 overall and 96 overlapped aerial photos were taken (6 overall and 67 overlapped were selected to use) and then were mosaicked and geo-corrected usi...

The zooplankton biomass and distribution were studied during two oceanographic cruises in NE part of the Persian Gulf in autumn 2012 (November) and summer 2013 (August) with 300 μmmesh net. Zooplankton samples were analyzed for biomass content. Zooplankton biomass expressed as mg m-3 dry wt., was greatest during summer cruise (mean of 18.8 ± 4.6 mg...

Fuzzy logic modeling for hydrothermal gold mineralization mapping using geochemical, geological, ASTER imageries and other geo-data, a case study in Central Alborz, Iran Abstract The study area is located ~50 km in the north of Tehran capital city, Iran, and is a part of central Alborz Mountain. The intrusive bodies aged post Eocene have intrud-ed...

Land surface temperature (LST) is a required input data for modeling in climatological, hydrological, agricultural, and change detection studies. In the current study, remotely sensed thermal infrared data were applied to assess LST in south Karkheh sub-basin, Iran. This research deals with the extraction of LST and land surface emissivity (LSE) an...

Diffuse attenuation coefficient (k d) is a crit-ical parameter for benthic habitat mapping using re-motely sensed data. This research attempted to devel-op a new approach to estimate k d in blue and green bands of QuickBird satellite image based on the inte-gration of Lyzenga's method and updated NASA-k d 490 algorithm. To do this, the Lyzenga's me...

The central Guilan coast along the Iranian Caspian coastline is characterized by sandy beaches and the development of spit–lagoon complexes, which are prone to preserve past sea-level fluctuations. The morphology of three spit–lagoon complexes along the central Guilan coast was studied using ground penetrating radar (GPR) and sediment sequences to...

Sea Surface Temperature (SST) is a critical parameter which can affect the health of coral reef communities. The Persian Gulf consists of various types of coral reefs, especially around the islands such as Kish Island. NOAA-Pathfinder-5 provides a valuable global dataset including the SST values of the water bodies. This research focuses on the stu...

Wetlands are transitional lands between Terrestrial and aquatic system that provide many goods and services including flood water retention, water quality maintenance, wildlife habitat, and soil erosion control. To prevent further loss of wetlands, and conserve existing wetland ecosystem for biodiversity and ecosystem services and goods, it is impo...

During the last few years, many coastal and offshore infrastructures are being constructed or planned for oil and other marine industries in the Persian Gulf area. Long term wave data is important for the design of coastal structures and for the calculation of sediment transport rates. In this study a third-generation wave model has been used to ge...

A monstrous red tide appeared on October 2008 and expanded to the west on November 2008 off the Iranian coasts in the Hormuz Strait (east of the Persian Gulf). MODIS satellite data, hydrographic and bio-optical field measurements were used to detect the red tide. MODIS fluorescence line height (FLH in w m−2 μm−1 sr−1) data showed the highest correl...

Urmia Lake, located in northwest of Iran, is the world second largest salt lake which is going through very sever degradation, especially during the past 15 years. Remotely sensed data such as Landsat satellite imagery and Sea Surface Temperature (SST) values extracted from NOAA-Pathfinder were employed to assess degradation of the Urmia during 198...

This paper describes an assessment of coral reef mapping using multi sensor satellite images such as Landsat ETM, SPOT and IKONOS images for Tioman Island, Malaysia. The study area is known to be one of the best Islands in South East Asia for its unique collection of diversified coral reefs and serves host to thousands of tourists every year. For t...

Persian Gulf has been polluted by oil spills due to numerous resources and oil tanker transportation. The operational activities cause to release different types of oil which effect on sea, air and land environment. Diesel transports from Rajaee, the main port of Bandar Abbas in south of Iran. Trajectory and fate of the pollution in the air and sea...

The percentage cover and distribution of scleractinian corals were studied at two Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf. Survey techniques involved the use of 20-m line transects placed at 4-9 m depth interval, parallel to the shore. GIS based maps were employed to show the distribution of hard corals. In Farurgan Island, hard coral cover was concent...