Investigating thermal physiology in large whales via aerial infrared thermography
The critically endangered status of North Atlantic right whales (NARWs, Eubalaena glacialis) warrants the development of new, less invasive technology to monitor the health of individuals. Combined with advancements in remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS, commonly “drones”), infrared thermograph...
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ftdatacite:10.26025/1912/27049 2023-05-15T16:08:18+02:00 Investigating thermal physiology in large whales via aerial infrared thermography Lonati, Gina Zitterbart, Daniel Miller, Carolyn A. Corkeron, Peter Murphy, Christin Moore, Michael J. 2021 https://dx.doi.org/10.26025/1912/27049 https://hdl.handle.net/1912/27616 unknown Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution dataset Dataset 2021 ftdatacite https://doi.org/10.26025/1912/27049 2021-11-05T12:55:41Z The critically endangered status of North Atlantic right whales (NARWs, Eubalaena glacialis) warrants the development of new, less invasive technology to monitor the health of individuals. Combined with advancements in remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS, commonly “drones”), infrared thermography (IRT) is being increasingly used to detect and count marine mammals and study their physiology. We conducted RPAS-based IRT over NARWs in Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts, USA in 2017 and 2018. Observations demonstrated three particularly useful applications of RPAS-based IRT to study large whales: 1) exploring patterns of cranial heat loss and providing insight into the physiological mechanisms that produce these patterns; 2) tracking subsurface individuals in real-time (depending on the thermal stratification of the water column) using cold surface water anomalies resulting from fluke upstrokes; and 3) detecting natural changes in superficial blood circulation or diagnosing pathology based on hot anomalies on post-cranial body surfaces. These qualitative applications present a new, important opportunity to study and monitor large whales, particularly rare and at-risk species like NARWs. Despite the challenges of using this technology in aquatic environments, the applications of RPAS-based IRT for monitoring the health and behavior of endangered marine mammals, including the collection of quantitative data on thermal physiology, will continue to diversify. Dataset Eubalaena glacialis North Atlantic DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) |
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The critically endangered status of North Atlantic right whales (NARWs, Eubalaena glacialis) warrants the development of new, less invasive technology to monitor the health of individuals. Combined with advancements in remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS, commonly “drones”), infrared thermography (IRT) is being increasingly used to detect and count marine mammals and study their physiology. We conducted RPAS-based IRT over NARWs in Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts, USA in 2017 and 2018. Observations demonstrated three particularly useful applications of RPAS-based IRT to study large whales: 1) exploring patterns of cranial heat loss and providing insight into the physiological mechanisms that produce these patterns; 2) tracking subsurface individuals in real-time (depending on the thermal stratification of the water column) using cold surface water anomalies resulting from fluke upstrokes; and 3) detecting natural changes in superficial blood circulation or diagnosing pathology based on hot anomalies on post-cranial body surfaces. These qualitative applications present a new, important opportunity to study and monitor large whales, particularly rare and at-risk species like NARWs. Despite the challenges of using this technology in aquatic environments, the applications of RPAS-based IRT for monitoring the health and behavior of endangered marine mammals, including the collection of quantitative data on thermal physiology, will continue to diversify. |
format |
Dataset |
author |
Lonati, Gina Zitterbart, Daniel Miller, Carolyn A. Corkeron, Peter Murphy, Christin Moore, Michael J. |
spellingShingle |
Lonati, Gina Zitterbart, Daniel Miller, Carolyn A. Corkeron, Peter Murphy, Christin Moore, Michael J. Investigating thermal physiology in large whales via aerial infrared thermography |
author_facet |
Lonati, Gina Zitterbart, Daniel Miller, Carolyn A. Corkeron, Peter Murphy, Christin Moore, Michael J. |
author_sort |
Lonati, Gina |
title |
Investigating thermal physiology in large whales via aerial infrared thermography |
title_short |
Investigating thermal physiology in large whales via aerial infrared thermography |
title_full |
Investigating thermal physiology in large whales via aerial infrared thermography |
title_fullStr |
Investigating thermal physiology in large whales via aerial infrared thermography |
title_full_unstemmed |
Investigating thermal physiology in large whales via aerial infrared thermography |
title_sort |
investigating thermal physiology in large whales via aerial infrared thermography |
publisher |
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://dx.doi.org/10.26025/1912/27049 https://hdl.handle.net/1912/27616 |
genre |
Eubalaena glacialis North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Eubalaena glacialis North Atlantic |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.26025/1912/27049 |
_version_ |
1766404361190113280 |