For most of us, unmanned aerial vehicles … commonly called “drones” … are associated with the military. These pilot-less aircraft, which can be controlled remotely, are used for stealth reconnaissance and attacks when manned flight is too dangerous.
But drone technology has civilian applications. Portable and able to fly under difficult conditions, drones are proving to be an excellent way of gathering information over broad geographic areas. Increasingly, they are being used to monitor livestock, map wildfires, track hurricanes, and provide the land surveys needed for oil exploration.
Drones are uniquely suited to gather information about the environment in rugged areas. So it should come as no surprise that conservation efforts are embracing the technology.
They have already been deployed to track illegal whaling operations in the Antarctica’s Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. They are used to track forest fires that threaten Indonesia’s last stronghold of Sumatran orangutans. And drones have also proved invaluable to performing the ice surveys needed to track our changing climate.
A natural fit for monitoring animal populations in inhospitable areas, drones allow animal observers to work from the comfort of their computer stations.
The high-resolution, real-time data that drones provide could reshape the way the ecological field studies are conducted. The World Wildlife Fund is already training staff in the use of this technology. And as drones become less expensive and more available, we can expect them to become important tools in our efforts to protect the planet.
Web Links
Using Unmanned Aircraft to Survey Remote Sea Lions
http://www.marineconservationalliance.org/?p=3326
Drones fly into nascent civilian market ripe with energy, environmental applications
http://eenews.net/public/Greenwire/2012/01/25/1
UAF drone guru turns flying cameras on sea lions
http://www.adn.com/2012/04/06/2410773/uaf-drone-guru-turns-flying-cameras.htm
New role for drones – wildlife, eco conservation
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-08-19/drones-wildfire-conservation/57134836/1
Photo, taken on September 21, 2010, courtesy of the U.S. Navy via Flickr.