Orben et al. (2024c)
Author Information
Rachael Orben: Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Sciences, Oregon State University, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Newport, OR
Jane Dolliver: Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Sciences, Oregon State University, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Newport, OR
Risa Dickson: Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Sciences, Oregon State University, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Newport, OR
Jennifer Spegon: Ecological Services Program, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Anchorage, AK
Kristopher Pacheco: Office of Communications, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Anchorage, AK
The Seabird Oceanography Lab, in collaboration with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), is using high-resolution satellite images to count Short-tailed Albatross (Phoebastria albatrus) colonies with the goal of providing a population estimate of the Senkaku Island colony. Across the 2022–2023 breeding season, the team collected six very high (0.3-meter) spatial resolution satellite images across three platforms (WorldView-2, WorldView-3 and Pléiades Neo) and three islands: Torishima (n=3), Senkaku Islands (n=2), and Mukojima (n=1). All of these images have undergone post-collection processing and two-observer counts with moderately high geographic concordance (0–20%). In addition, collections were set up for the above colonies and nine reference colonies for the 2023–2024 breeding season.
