Researchers recently demonstrated a new way of counting whales from space through high-resolution satellite imagery.
The process was created in order to make whale counts more accurate and if the practice picks up around the world researchers will no longer have to go looking for whales on boats.
High-resolution satellite pictures and an image-processing software designed to detect the mammals near or at the ocean surface have helped scientists figure out how many whales are located in a specific location.
In the past, researchers have used ships to count whales by looking for blowhole sprays and tail flips. This method has been extremely unproductive however, as it relies on chance encounters and the field of view is often limited to just a few miles even on a nice day.
"If you are very skilled, you can judge how far away it is and work out the species from the size and shape of the blow," said Peter Fretwell, a researcher for the British Antarctic Survey, according to LiveScience. "But it's very difficult, and you have to look in the right place at the right time."
The satellite search could cover a large area of an ocean and for a lot less money than it costs to send a team out on a boat.
A test count took place in the Golgo Nuevo on southern right whales near the coast of Argentina, according to the BBC.
"Our study is a proof of principle," said Fretwell on BBC Radio 4. "But as the resolution of the satellites increases and our image analysis improves, we should be able to monitor many more species and in other types of location.
Eventually it will be possible to do total population counts and, in the future, track the trajectory of those populations, according to Fretwell.
DigitalGlobe's WorldView-2 platform was used for the study.
The large whales only take up a few pixels in a satellite picture taken by the researchers. The image had a resolution of 4 pixels per 11 square feet, and covered 44 square miles, according to the BBC.
A manual search of the location determined the researchers found 55 probable whales, 23 possible whales and 13 under-water objects that were not whales.
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