Hyperspectral Reflectance Measurements of Kelps, Macroalgae, and Co-ocurring Materials Collected in Australia and New Zealand

This dataset contains the relative reflectance profiles for 15 types of macroalgae including three genera of kelp (Macrocystis, Ecklonia, and Undaria). It also contains the spectra of eight co-occurring materials found at the sampling sites that could realistically contribute to mixed pixels (total of 23 target materials). All reflectance measurements were collected under natural lighting conditions in situ with an ASD Handheld 2 spectrometer. The data has been cleaned to manually remove spectra judged as substantially affected by overlaying water through absorption or glint. It is organized with the samples as rows and wavelengths in columns; metadata for each spectrum is included in the leading columns. The `id_photos` folder contains photographs accompanying each spectral reflectance measurement, as indicated in the `id_photo` metadata olumn of the data spreadsheet. A full description of the data collection methodology is presented in the accompanying article titled: "Evaluating macroalgal hyperspectral reflectance separability in support of kelp mapping" by Rowan, Smart, Roelfsema and Phinn (2025). The metadata data columns associated with each spectral reflectance measurement are as follows: - Target: The identity of the sample to the genus level for phaeophytes and chlorophytes, to the growth types for rhodophytes, and to colloquial labels for co-occurring materials (e.g. sand, rock, grass) - Instrument: Sensor with which the measurement was collected - Region: Region where the sample was found and measured - Site: Site where the sample was found and measured - Lat: latitude of the measurement site - Lon: longitude of the measurement site - UTM zone: UTM zone of the measurement site - Illumination: Source of the radiation hitting the target and being recorded - Oktas: Approximate measure of cloud cover during reflectance measurement from 0 (no clouds) to 8 (full cloud) - Viewing angle: Angle at which the fibre optic tip was directed during measurement - Viewing distance: Distance between the fibre optic tip and the target - ID Photo: example photo of specimen at time of measurement and used for taxonomic identification. na values: missing photo. - Spectrum type: Units in which the measurement was collected (DN, radiance or reflectance) - Operator: Person operating the spectrometer during collection - Date: Date of measurement (dd/mm/yyyy)