| Summary: | Satellite imagery has been used to improve research all over the world. The southern right whale population that uses the south coast of Brazil for breeding activities was chosen to test the use of low, medium and high-resolution satellite images to identify whales comparing with aerial survey in situ data collected by Instituto Australis. The high-resolution satellite image from SPOT 7 available through Google Earth showed the best results, allowing observation of shape and body parts of the animals. A Mann-Whitney U test between number of points recorded in satellite images of different years did not differ significantly from whales recorded in aerial surveys, considering both the number of groups (p-level = 0.8412) and the total number of animals (p-level = 0.2222). Also, distances between aerial survey records and definite, probable and possible whales’ points were similar. The Mantel test result was statistically significant (r = 0.52; p = 0.001; n = 13). This is the first time that satellite imagery has been used to identify southern right whales in the breeding area off Brazil. The technique used was considered viable to identify whales, so the use of satellite imagery is an important tool especially in countries where research funding is scarce. Imagens de satélite vem sendo utilizadas para aprimorar a pesquisa científica em todo o mundo. A população de baleias-franca-austral que ocorre na região sul do Brasil durante o período reprodutivo foi selecionada para testar o uso de imagens de satélite de baixa, média e alta resolução para localizar baleias comparando com dados de sobrevoo coletados in situ pelo Instituto Australis. Uma imagem de alta resolução do satélite SPOT 7 disponível através do Google Earth apresentou os melhores resultados, possibilitando observação do formato e partes do corpo dos animais. O teste U de Mann-Whitney entre o número de pontos registrados nas imagens de satélite de anos distintos não apresentou diferença significativa dos registros de baleias realizados através dos ...
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