High-resolution modeling of uplift landscapes can inform micrositing of wind turbines for soaring raptors

• Published in: Environmental Management
• Main Authors: Hanssen, Frank Ole, May, Roelof Frans, Nygård, Torgeir
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: White-tailed eagle; Norway; Thermal and orographic updraf; GIS; Remote sensing; VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Geofag: 450; Hitra; Haliaeetus albicilla
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2659522; https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-020-01318-0

Collision risk of soaring birds is partly associated with updrafts to which they are attracted. To ident ify the risk-enhancinglandscape features, a micrositing tool was developed to model orographic and thermal updraft velocities from high-resolution remote sensing data. The tool was applied to the island of Hitra, and validated using GPS-tracked white-tailedeagles (Haliaeetus albicilla). Resource selection functions predicted that eagles preferred ridges with high orographic uplift,especially at flight altitud es within the rotor-swept zone (40–110 m). Flight activity was negatively associated with thewidely distributed areas with high thermal upli ft at lower flight altitudes (<110 m). Both the existing wind-power plant andplanned extension are placed at locations rendering maximum orographic updraft velocities around the minimum sink ratefor white-tailed eagles (0.75 m/s) but slightly higher therm al updraft velocities. The tool can contribute to improvemicrositing of wi nd turbines to reduce the environmental impacts, especially for soaring Raptors. publishedVersion