3D LiDAR Mapping of Coral Restoration Gardens and Mangrove Ecosystems in Bali and Lombok, Indonesia

Coral reefs and mangrove forests are two of the world's most threatened ecosystems, yet monitoring their recovery remains slow, expensive, and spatially limited. Traditional methods rely on divers conducting manual surveys or researchers walking forest transects approaches that are time-consuming and difficult to repeat at scale. This project proposes to apply artificial intelligence to 3D laser scanning datasets already collected in the field, transforming how restoration progress can be tracked across two critical tropical ecosystems in Indonesia.

In August 2025, a research expedition involving James Cook University, the National University of Singapore, and local Indonesian partners travelled to Bali and Lombok. At the Livingseas Asia coral restoration site in Padangbai, East Bali, the largest coral restoration project on the island, with over 360,000 coral fragments planted across 7,300 square metres of reef, a drone-mounted green laser system (YellowScan Navigator bathymetric LiDAR, provided by YellowScan Australia) was deployed to scan the underwater restoration garden in three dimensions without any diver disturbance. In Lombok, a handheld laser scanner and a 2D drone were used to map mangrove forest structure in collaboration with Mataram University and SORCE local NGO. Research findings from the expedition resulted in 3D datasets ready to be analysed.

This project will apply machine learning to automatically classify the point cloud data, identifying coral colony structures, quantifying reef complexity, and extracting mangrove canopy metrics, producing the first AI-assisted maps of these restoration sites. Outputs will be delivered to Livingseas Asia and Mataram University as practical conservation tools, enabling local managers to track ecosystem recovery over time.

Project Team and Collaborators:

Sofie Boggio Sella | MPhil Candidate, Earth and Environmental Science, JCU Townsville
Dr Bren Jarihani | Principal Supervisor, Senior Lecturer in Earth and Environmental Science, CADSI, TNQ Drought Hub, JCU
Teresa Hong | Yellow Scan Australia | Regional Sales Director – Asia – Pacific
Dr. Gretchen Coffman | National University of Singapore | Ecological Research & Training