Tracking whales from SPAAAAACE!

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2021-08-05 04:00

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Canadian researchers have figured out that a satellite orbiting above us can be used in conjunction with very high resolution cameras to track and classify both narwhals and beluga whales swimming through the Arctic waters. The satellite, zooming around the planet at a height of 617km, can take incredibly detailed photos, and the researchers found that 12 images taken between the end of 2017 and 2019 showed a total of 292 beluga whales and 109 narwhals going about their swimmy-business. The team believes satellite imagery could be a better means of tracking the aquatic mammals than all other current methods.

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Journal/
conference: PLOS ONE

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Whale Seeker, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Funder: Whale Seeker provided support in the form of salaries for authors B.C. and E.T., These authors lead the research, analysis, and writing of this article and own the company (Whale Seeker). The specific roles ofthese authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.

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