Whales from space: Assessing the feasibility of using satellite imagery to monitor whales
By the mid-twentieth century, the majority of great whale species were threatened with extinction, following centuries of commercial whaling. Since the implementation of a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1985 by the International Whaling Commission, the recovery of whale population is being regu...
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:527262 2023-05-15T18:02:43+02:00 Whales from space: Assessing the feasibility of using satellite imagery to monitor whales Cubaynes, Hannah Charlotte 2020-04-25 text http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/527262/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/527262/1/Cubaynes_eThesis.pdf https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/527262/2/Cubaynes%20Thesis%20AccessConfirmationForm.pdf https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.50428 en eng https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/527262/1/Cubaynes_eThesis.pdf https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/527262/2/Cubaynes%20Thesis%20AccessConfirmationForm.pdf Cubaynes, Hannah Charlotte orcid:0000-0002-9497-154X . 2020 Whales from space: Assessing the feasibility of using satellite imagery to monitor whales. University of Cambridge, Scott Polar Research Institute, PhD Thesis, 210pp. cc_by_nc_sa_4 Publication - Thesis NonPeerReviewed 2020 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.50428 2023-03-10T00:02:30Z By the mid-twentieth century, the majority of great whale species were threatened with extinction, following centuries of commercial whaling. Since the implementation of a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1985 by the International Whaling Commission, the recovery of whale population is being regularly assessed. Various methods are used to survey whale populations, though most are spatially limited and prevent remote areas from being studied. Satellites orbiting Earth can access most regions of the planet, offering a potential solution to surveying remote locations. With recent improvements in the spatial resolution of satellite imagery, it is now possible to detect wildlife from space, including whales. In this thesis, I aimed to further investigate the feasibility of very high resolution (VHR) satellite imagery as a tool to reliably monitor whales. The first objective was to describe, both visually and spectrally, how four morphologically distinct species appear in VHR satellite imagery. The second objective was to explore different ways to automatically detect whales in such imagery, as the current alternative is manual detection, which is time-consuming and impractical when monitoring large areas. With the third objective, I attempted to give some insights on how to estimate the maximum depth at which a whale can be detected in VHR satellite imagery, as this will be crucial to estimate whale abundance from space. This thesis shows that the four species targeted could be detected with varying degrees of accuracy, some contrasting better with their surroundings. Compared to manual detection, the automated systems trialled here took longer, were not as accurate, and were not transferable to other images, suggesting to focus future automation research on machine learning and the creation of a well-labelled database required to train and validate. The maximum depth of detection could be assessed only approximately using nautical charts. Other methods such as the installation of panels at various depths should ... Text Polar Research Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
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Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
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ftnerc |
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English |
description |
By the mid-twentieth century, the majority of great whale species were threatened with extinction, following centuries of commercial whaling. Since the implementation of a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1985 by the International Whaling Commission, the recovery of whale population is being regularly assessed. Various methods are used to survey whale populations, though most are spatially limited and prevent remote areas from being studied. Satellites orbiting Earth can access most regions of the planet, offering a potential solution to surveying remote locations. With recent improvements in the spatial resolution of satellite imagery, it is now possible to detect wildlife from space, including whales. In this thesis, I aimed to further investigate the feasibility of very high resolution (VHR) satellite imagery as a tool to reliably monitor whales. The first objective was to describe, both visually and spectrally, how four morphologically distinct species appear in VHR satellite imagery. The second objective was to explore different ways to automatically detect whales in such imagery, as the current alternative is manual detection, which is time-consuming and impractical when monitoring large areas. With the third objective, I attempted to give some insights on how to estimate the maximum depth at which a whale can be detected in VHR satellite imagery, as this will be crucial to estimate whale abundance from space. This thesis shows that the four species targeted could be detected with varying degrees of accuracy, some contrasting better with their surroundings. Compared to manual detection, the automated systems trialled here took longer, were not as accurate, and were not transferable to other images, suggesting to focus future automation research on machine learning and the creation of a well-labelled database required to train and validate. The maximum depth of detection could be assessed only approximately using nautical charts. Other methods such as the installation of panels at various depths should ... |
format |
Text |
author |
Cubaynes, Hannah Charlotte |
spellingShingle |
Cubaynes, Hannah Charlotte Whales from space: Assessing the feasibility of using satellite imagery to monitor whales |
author_facet |
Cubaynes, Hannah Charlotte |
author_sort |
Cubaynes, Hannah Charlotte |
title |
Whales from space: Assessing the feasibility of using satellite imagery to monitor whales |
title_short |
Whales from space: Assessing the feasibility of using satellite imagery to monitor whales |
title_full |
Whales from space: Assessing the feasibility of using satellite imagery to monitor whales |
title_fullStr |
Whales from space: Assessing the feasibility of using satellite imagery to monitor whales |
title_full_unstemmed |
Whales from space: Assessing the feasibility of using satellite imagery to monitor whales |
title_sort |
whales from space: assessing the feasibility of using satellite imagery to monitor whales |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/527262/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/527262/1/Cubaynes_eThesis.pdf https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/527262/2/Cubaynes%20Thesis%20AccessConfirmationForm.pdf https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.50428 |
genre |
Polar Research |
genre_facet |
Polar Research |
op_relation |
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/527262/1/Cubaynes_eThesis.pdf https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/527262/2/Cubaynes%20Thesis%20AccessConfirmationForm.pdf Cubaynes, Hannah Charlotte orcid:0000-0002-9497-154X . 2020 Whales from space: Assessing the feasibility of using satellite imagery to monitor whales. University of Cambridge, Scott Polar Research Institute, PhD Thesis, 210pp. |
op_rights |
cc_by_nc_sa_4 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.50428 |
_version_ |
1766173307113046016 |