Researchers have for the first time counted whales from space, tallying 55 “probable” southern right whales and several other whale-like objects off the coast of Argentina.
Peter Fretwell and colleagues at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, UK, analysed a single high-resolution WorldView2 satellite image (pictured, right; an aerial photograph is shown for comparison, left) from Earth-imagery company DigitalGlobe. The image covered Península Valdés, a breeding area for a major population of southern right whales (Eubalaena australis).
The team found that all nine available spectra could reliably identify whales at the surface, and a far-blue 'coastal band' that penetrates deeper into the water pinpointed possible whales below the surface. An automated detection system found 89% of the whales that had been classified manually as probable sightings.
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Counting whales from space. Nature 506, 269 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/506269e
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/506269e
