Using Fixed-Wing UAV for Detecting and Mapping the Distribution and Abundance of Penguins on the South Shetlands Islands, Antarctica

• Published in: Drones
• Main Authors: Christian Pfeifer, Andres Barbosa, Osama Mustafa, Hans-Ulrich Peter, Marie-Charlott Rümmler, Alexander Brenning
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019
• Subjects: Antarctica; birds; BVLOS; penguin; drone; fixed-wing UAV; monitoring; population change; Pygoscelis antarcticus; South Shetland Islands; Motor vehicles. Aeronautics. Astronautics; TL1-4050; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Austral; King George Island; Nelson Island; Antarc*; antarcticus; Chinstrap penguin
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/drones3020039; https://doaj.org/article/c70915d4c3e54cf68f4be758eecf02f6

Antarctic marine ecosystems undergo enormous changes, presumably due to climate change and fishery. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have an unprecedented potential for measuring these changes by mapping indicator species such as penguins even in remote areas. We used a battery-powered fixed-wing UAV...