Monitoring whale strandings via satellites from space

[Judi Lynn]

BY TIM SANDLE 1 HOUR AGO IN ENVIRONMENT

New technology is being deployed to assess the extent of whale stranded on land and to enable local teams to help to return the mammals to the water. The technology remains in development, but the data is already revealing interesting patterns.

The technology has required a multi-disciplinary approach, drawing on the skills of engineers and marine biologists working for the British Antarctic Survey and several Chilean organisations, the BBC reports. The focus is with devising technology to count great whales from space. This has already provided data that suggests that the largest ever recorded mass stranding event was most likely an underestimation.

This record whale stranding event look place in 2015, across the emote beaches in Patagonia, Chile. The original assessment was that the carcasses of 343 sei whales were washed up. However, these numbers were assessed by survey teams working from planes and boats. Moreover, these data took several weeks to collate.

The sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis) is a baleen whale, the third-largest rorqual after the blue whale and the fin whale. While the cause of the record whale stranding was never clear, past red tides (blooms of toxic microorganisms) have been blamed for whale deaths in the region.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/environment/monitoring-whale-strandings-via-satellites-from-space/article/560094#ixzz62qXH1DlO

[abqtommy]

1. Accurate assessment is important but we need to be led to a solution.