Independent monitoring across the Gulf's coastal ecosystems

KRSC has conducted a series of advanced satellite-based studies across three mangrove and coastal vegetation sites in the Arabian Gulf region, applying machine learning and multi-spectral remote sensing to independently assess ecosystem change, vegetation health, and carbon sequestration outcomes. At Sir Bani Yas Island in the United Arab Emirates, multi-temporal analysis using NDVI, SAVI, NDWI, and EVI indices across four acquisition dates between August 2024 and August 2025 revealed a striking ecological transition: mangrove coverage expanded by 91.2 percent, rising from 535.6 to 1,024.1 hectares. AI-assisted spatial clustering identified 59 distinct mangrove aggregations and 81 isolated patches across the island.

At Abu Ali Island on Saudi Arabia's Arabian Gulf coast, a comparative analysis of Sentinel-2 imagery from March 2020 and March 2024 tracked the progress of Saudi Aramco's long-term mangrove restoration program under the Saudi Green Initiative. Vegetation health mapping across five NDVI density classes revealed a net decline of 25.5 percent in mangrove coverage, from 3.76 to 2.80 hectares. The NDVI time series flagged pronounced mid-year stress consistent with peak summer heat and saline conditions in this historically oil-impacted intertidal zone.

At a 280-hectare mangrove restoration site in Oman, KRSC deployed an Isolation Forest anomaly detection model alongside a suite of arid-environment spectral indices, including a custom Arid Mangrove Health Index and a Salinity Stress Detection Index, to independently verify carbon sequestration claims over a ten-year window from 2015 to 2025. The analysis confirmed 8,391 tCO2 per year at a 91 percent confidence level, against a project-claimed figure of 130,723 tCO2 per year, highlighting the critical role of AI-powered independent verification in blue carbon markets.