Satellite show penguin success

Sunday, April 15, 2012 - 10:30 in Earth & Climate

Emperor penguin chicks huddled together. The detailed satellite images allowed scientists to differentiate between birds, ice, shadow and penguin poo. Image: KeithSzafranski/iStockphoto A new study using satellite mapping technology reveals there are twice as many emperor penguins in Antarctica than was previously thought. The results provide an important benchmark for monitoring the impact of environmental change on the population of this iconic bird.Reporting this week in the journal PLoS ONE, an international team of scientists, including Australian Antarctic Division biologist Dr Barbara Wienecke, describe how they used Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite images to estimate the number of penguins at each colony around the coastline of Antarctica.Using a technique known as pan-sharpening to increase the resolution of the satellite imagery, the scientists were able to differentiate between birds, ice, shadow and penguin poo (guano).They then used ground counts and aerial photography to calibrate the analysis. These birds breed in areas that are...

Read the whole article on Science Alert

More from Science Alert

Latest Science Newsletter

Get the latest and most popular science news articles of the week in your Inbox! It's free!

Check out our next project, Biology.Net