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Mapping Arctic cetaceans from space: A case study for beluga and narwhal

Emergence of new technologies in remote sensing give scientists a new way to detect and monitor wildlife populations. In this study we assess the ability to detect and classify two emblematic Arctic cetaceans, the narwhal (Monodon monoceros) and beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas), using very high-...

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Autores principales: Charry, Bertrand, Tissier, Emily, Iacozza, John, Marcoux, Marianne, Watt, Cortney A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8336832/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34347780
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254380
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author Charry, Bertrand
Tissier, Emily
Iacozza, John
Marcoux, Marianne
Watt, Cortney A.
author_facet Charry, Bertrand
Tissier, Emily
Iacozza, John
Marcoux, Marianne
Watt, Cortney A.
author_sort Charry, Bertrand
collection PubMed
description Emergence of new technologies in remote sensing give scientists a new way to detect and monitor wildlife populations. In this study we assess the ability to detect and classify two emblematic Arctic cetaceans, the narwhal (Monodon monoceros) and beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas), using very high-resolution (VHR) satellite imagery. We analyzed 12 VHR images acquired in August 2017 and 2019, collected by the WorldView-3 satellite, which has a maximum resolution of 0.31 m per pixel. The images covered Clearwater Fiord (138.8 km(2)), an area on eastern Baffin Island, Canada where belugas spend a large part of the summer, and Tremblay Sound (127.0 km(2)), a narrow water body located on the north shore of Baffin Island that is used by narwhals during the open water season. A total of 292 beluga whales and 109 narwhals were detected in the images. This study contributes to our understanding of Arctic cetacean distribution and highlights the capabilities of using satellite imagery to detect marine mammals.
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spelling pubmed-83368322021-08-05 Mapping Arctic cetaceans from space: A case study for beluga and narwhal Charry, Bertrand Tissier, Emily Iacozza, John Marcoux, Marianne Watt, Cortney A. PLoS One Research Article Emergence of new technologies in remote sensing give scientists a new way to detect and monitor wildlife populations. In this study we assess the ability to detect and classify two emblematic Arctic cetaceans, the narwhal (Monodon monoceros) and beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas), using very high-resolution (VHR) satellite imagery. We analyzed 12 VHR images acquired in August 2017 and 2019, collected by the WorldView-3 satellite, which has a maximum resolution of 0.31 m per pixel. The images covered Clearwater Fiord (138.8 km(2)), an area on eastern Baffin Island, Canada where belugas spend a large part of the summer, and Tremblay Sound (127.0 km(2)), a narrow water body located on the north shore of Baffin Island that is used by narwhals during the open water season. A total of 292 beluga whales and 109 narwhals were detected in the images. This study contributes to our understanding of Arctic cetacean distribution and highlights the capabilities of using satellite imagery to detect marine mammals. Public Library of Science 2021-08-04 /pmc/articles/PMC8336832/ /pubmed/34347780 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254380 Text en © 2021 Charry et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Charry, Bertrand
Tissier, Emily
Iacozza, John
Marcoux, Marianne
Watt, Cortney A.
Mapping Arctic cetaceans from space: A case study for beluga and narwhal
title Mapping Arctic cetaceans from space: A case study for beluga and narwhal
title_full Mapping Arctic cetaceans from space: A case study for beluga and narwhal
title_fullStr Mapping Arctic cetaceans from space: A case study for beluga and narwhal
title_full_unstemmed Mapping Arctic cetaceans from space: A case study for beluga and narwhal
title_short Mapping Arctic cetaceans from space: A case study for beluga and narwhal
title_sort mapping arctic cetaceans from space: a case study for beluga and narwhal
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8336832/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34347780
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254380
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