Space technology and artificial intelligence to monitor whale mass stranding events
An international team of scientists led by British Antarctic Survey have published research today on using new technology to study mass stranding of whales from space and how the technology could be used to help protect populations.
The study, published in Frontiers in Marine Science, found that high-resolution satellite imagery could help build long-term cetacean (i.e., whales, dolphins and porpoises) stranding monitoring programs in remote regions and stranding networks globally. The team behind the study includes scientists from British Antarctic Survey, CEAZA (Center for Advanced Research in Arid Zones), Oceanswell and the University of Massey.
Whale strandings are becoming a critical ocean health issue and an increase in capacity to monitor and understand strandings is urgently required. The World Health Organisation recently announced their ‘One Health’ approach, which recognizes oceanic conditions that impact whales often affect the marine ecosystem, with potential ramifications for human health too. Leading marine mammal experts made whale stranding response one of three core goals of the World Marine Mammal Conference in 2019.
The researches discuss making satellites a viable long-term monitoring tool, particularly for places where stranding response capacity is very limited and where surveys are infrequent. For remote regions, satellites could form an ‘early response’ tool, alerting managers to a problem and allowing for appropriate response, which could increase the likelihood of attaining useful diagnostic samples to understand exactly what is causing these events.
Penny Clarke, Lead Author of the study and Ph.D. Researcher at British Antarctic Survey, said: “This study reveals that we need to increase the monitoring of mass strandings across the globe to greater understand cetacean populations, the threats they face and to evaluate the impact of future change. This is particularly important in remote regions, absent of stranding monitoring networks, where satellites offer an opportunity to gather baseline data in these regions.”
Dr. Jennifer Jackson, Whale Biologist at British Antarctic Survey said: “As whale populations recover from whaling and suffer growing impacts from humans and from climate change, we need new tools to monitor these impacts, particularly in remote areas.
