Engaging ‘the crowd’ in remote sensing to learn about habitat affinity of the Weddell seal in Antarctica
Abstract Satellites Over Seals (SOS), a project initiated in late 2016, is a crowdsourced method to determine factors behind the presence/absence patterns and to ultimately determine the global population of the Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddellii). An iconic species, the Weddell seal is proposed...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:ae3cc20e87404b8f9795bb236d562574 2023-05-15T13:57:29+02:00 Engaging ‘the crowd’ in remote sensing to learn about habitat affinity of the Weddell seal in Antarctica Michelle A. LaRue David G. Ainley Jean Pennycook Kostas Stamatiou Leo Salas Nadav Nur Sharon Stammerjohn Luke Barrington 2020-03-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1002/rse2.124 https://doaj.org/article/ae3cc20e87404b8f9795bb236d562574 EN eng Wiley https://doi.org/10.1002/rse2.124 https://doaj.org/toc/2056-3485 2056-3485 doi:10.1002/rse2.124 https://doaj.org/article/ae3cc20e87404b8f9795bb236d562574 Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation, Vol 6, Iss 1, Pp 70-78 (2020) Antarctica citizen science Southern Ocean very high‐resolution satellite imagery VHR Weddell seal Technology T Ecology QH540-549.5 article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1002/rse2.124 2022-12-31T01:10:17Z Abstract Satellites Over Seals (SOS), a project initiated in late 2016, is a crowdsourced method to determine factors behind the presence/absence patterns and to ultimately determine the global population of the Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddellii). An iconic species, the Weddell seal is proposed to be part of the Antarctic Research and Monitoring Program required in the newly designated Ross Sea Region Marine Protected Area. This species is easy to detect via satellite imagery, due to its large size (3–4 m long, 1 m wide) and its dark color contrasting with the Antarctic coastal fast ice, where it aggregates on during breeding season. Using very high‐resolution satellite imagery (VHR; 0.31–0.60 m resolution) and the online platform Tomnod, we used VHR images from November 2010 and 2011 to cover the entirety of available fast ice around Antarctica. Before correcting for time of day or date, we searched for the presence/absence to identify a subset of where abundance estimates should be concentrated. More than 325 000 citizen scientists searched 790 VHR images, covering 268 611 km2 of fast ice, to determine the locations of seals. Algorithms ranked searchers to the degree their votes corresponded with others, a measure of searcher relative quality that we used to filter out unreliable searchers. Seal presence was detected on only 0.55% of available maps (total n = 1 116 058) within fast ice, revealing a sparse, irregular distribution. The rate of false‐negative detections was 1.7%, though false positives were high (67%), highlighting the importance of training for image interpretation to ensure differentiation between seals and landscape features (such as large rocks, ice chunks or depressions/holes in the ice). This approach not only allowed us to assess image resolution and quality, but also training, outreach and the effectiveness of this platform for introducing citizen scientists to the ecology of the Southern Ocean. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ross Sea Southern Ocean Weddell Seal Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Antarctic Ross Sea Southern Ocean The Antarctic Weddell Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation 6 1 70 78 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Antarctica citizen science Southern Ocean very high‐resolution satellite imagery VHR Weddell seal Technology T Ecology QH540-549.5 |
spellingShingle |
Antarctica citizen science Southern Ocean very high‐resolution satellite imagery VHR Weddell seal Technology T Ecology QH540-549.5 Michelle A. LaRue David G. Ainley Jean Pennycook Kostas Stamatiou Leo Salas Nadav Nur Sharon Stammerjohn Luke Barrington Engaging ‘the crowd’ in remote sensing to learn about habitat affinity of the Weddell seal in Antarctica |
topic_facet |
Antarctica citizen science Southern Ocean very high‐resolution satellite imagery VHR Weddell seal Technology T Ecology QH540-549.5 |
description |
Abstract Satellites Over Seals (SOS), a project initiated in late 2016, is a crowdsourced method to determine factors behind the presence/absence patterns and to ultimately determine the global population of the Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddellii). An iconic species, the Weddell seal is proposed to be part of the Antarctic Research and Monitoring Program required in the newly designated Ross Sea Region Marine Protected Area. This species is easy to detect via satellite imagery, due to its large size (3–4 m long, 1 m wide) and its dark color contrasting with the Antarctic coastal fast ice, where it aggregates on during breeding season. Using very high‐resolution satellite imagery (VHR; 0.31–0.60 m resolution) and the online platform Tomnod, we used VHR images from November 2010 and 2011 to cover the entirety of available fast ice around Antarctica. Before correcting for time of day or date, we searched for the presence/absence to identify a subset of where abundance estimates should be concentrated. More than 325 000 citizen scientists searched 790 VHR images, covering 268 611 km2 of fast ice, to determine the locations of seals. Algorithms ranked searchers to the degree their votes corresponded with others, a measure of searcher relative quality that we used to filter out unreliable searchers. Seal presence was detected on only 0.55% of available maps (total n = 1 116 058) within fast ice, revealing a sparse, irregular distribution. The rate of false‐negative detections was 1.7%, though false positives were high (67%), highlighting the importance of training for image interpretation to ensure differentiation between seals and landscape features (such as large rocks, ice chunks or depressions/holes in the ice). This approach not only allowed us to assess image resolution and quality, but also training, outreach and the effectiveness of this platform for introducing citizen scientists to the ecology of the Southern Ocean. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Michelle A. LaRue David G. Ainley Jean Pennycook Kostas Stamatiou Leo Salas Nadav Nur Sharon Stammerjohn Luke Barrington |
author_facet |
Michelle A. LaRue David G. Ainley Jean Pennycook Kostas Stamatiou Leo Salas Nadav Nur Sharon Stammerjohn Luke Barrington |
author_sort |
Michelle A. LaRue |
title |
Engaging ‘the crowd’ in remote sensing to learn about habitat affinity of the Weddell seal in Antarctica |
title_short |
Engaging ‘the crowd’ in remote sensing to learn about habitat affinity of the Weddell seal in Antarctica |
title_full |
Engaging ‘the crowd’ in remote sensing to learn about habitat affinity of the Weddell seal in Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Engaging ‘the crowd’ in remote sensing to learn about habitat affinity of the Weddell seal in Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Engaging ‘the crowd’ in remote sensing to learn about habitat affinity of the Weddell seal in Antarctica |
title_sort |
engaging ‘the crowd’ in remote sensing to learn about habitat affinity of the weddell seal in antarctica |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1002/rse2.124 https://doaj.org/article/ae3cc20e87404b8f9795bb236d562574 |
geographic |
Antarctic Ross Sea Southern Ocean The Antarctic Weddell |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Ross Sea Southern Ocean The Antarctic Weddell |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ross Sea Southern Ocean Weddell Seal |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ross Sea Southern Ocean Weddell Seal |
op_source |
Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation, Vol 6, Iss 1, Pp 70-78 (2020) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1002/rse2.124 https://doaj.org/toc/2056-3485 2056-3485 doi:10.1002/rse2.124 https://doaj.org/article/ae3cc20e87404b8f9795bb236d562574 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/rse2.124 |
container_title |
Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation |
container_volume |
6 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
70 |
op_container_end_page |
78 |
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1766265158710067200 |