Seals from Space: Developing techniques to use satellite remote sensing to census pack-ice seals in the Prydz Bay region of East Antarctica

Despite being a ubiquitous and abundant component of the Southern Ocean ecosystem, pack-ice seals (crabeater, Ross and leopard seals) are notoriously difficult to census as they are sparsely distributed over large regions of remote pack-ice. Historically, population censuses have been made from ship...

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Bibliographic Details
Other Authors: SOUTHWELL, COLIN (hasPrincipalInvestigator), SOUTHWELL, COLIN (processor), HINDELL, MARK (hasPrincipalInvestigator), MCMAHON, CLIVE (hasPrincipalInvestigator), MCMAHON, CLIVE (processor), Australian Antarctic Data Centre (publisher)
Format: Dataset
Language:unknown
Published: Australian Antarctic Data Centre
Subjects:
biota
oceans
SEALS/SEA LIONS/WALRUSES
EARTH SCIENCE
BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION
ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES
MAMMALS
CARNIVORES
PACK ICE
CRYOSPHERE
SEA ICE
Satellite Imagery
Pack-ice seals
CAMERAS
SATELLITES
WORLDVIEW-2
GEOGRAPHIC REGION &gt
POLAR
CONTINENT &gt
ANTARCTICA
OCEAN &gt
SOUTHERN OCEAN &gt
Prydz Bay
Southern Ocean
East Antarctica
Weddell
Antarc*
Antarctica
Leopard Seals
Sea ice
Weddell Seals
walrus*
Online Access:https://researchdata.ands.org.au/seals-space-developing-east-antarctica/945814
https://doi.org/10.4225/15/58881bdccbd17
https://data.aad.gov.au/metadata/records/AAS_4328_satellite_seals
http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-617536
Description
Summary:Despite being a ubiquitous and abundant component of the Southern Ocean ecosystem, pack-ice seals (crabeater, Ross and leopard seals) are notoriously difficult to census as they are sparsely distributed over large regions of remote pack-ice. Historically, population censuses have been made from ship- or helicopter-based surveys, which are expensive and logistically difficult, and this inevitably leads to data which are limited, in time and space. High resolution images allow us now to accurately census seals e.g. elephant and Weddell seals at unprecedented spatial and temporal scales. Using this technology promises to provide regular estimates of the numbers of pack-ice seals in important regions such as Prydz Bay This study will develop techniques to survey pack-ice seals from high resolution satellite images, including automatic detection functions and a preliminary habitat model based on the characteristics of the ice contained in the images.

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