WorldViews-3 Satellite imagery to count the number of birds.
Satellite is being used to count number of birds
Scientists have started counting individual Northern Royal Albatrosses from space.
This is the first time ever that the global population of a species has been assessed from space.
Scientists from Britain and New Zealand are calculating the number of the endangered albatrosses, Using satellite Imagery of DigitalGlobe WorldView-3 satellite.
WorldView-3 satellite can observe objects as small as 30 cm.
The birds are clearly visible in the highest-resolution satellite imagery either incubating eggs or guarding nestlings — on their isolated nesting colonies.
Completing annual breeding surveys via satellite is cheaper, less labour-intensive and requires minimal logistical effort.
The US government has only recently permitted such keen resolution to be distributed outside of the military,
and its benefits for consistently monitoring remote seabird colonies are already being realised.
