Dear MARMAM community,

 

My co-authors and I are pleased to share our new publication ‘Talking about the weather: the feasibility of using very high-resolution optical satellite imagery to monitor live and stranded cetaceans around the UK and UK Overseas Territories.

 

Monitoring live and stranded cetaceans can be expensive and logistically challenging, resulting in knowledge gaps. Very high-resolution (VHR) optical satellites are considered a potential solution to addressing some of these gaps. Despite success at detecting live and stranded cetaceans, satellites have only been trialled on restricted spatiotemporal scales. This project presents a framework for assessing the feasibility of using VHR optical satellite-based monitoring of cetaceans at high temporal frequency and local to global scales, focusing on the UK and UK Overseas Territories as a case study. We assess the primary environmental conditions necessary for the successful application of this technology: cloud cover and wind speed. Five-year monthly median “Total cloud cover” and “10m wind speed” ERA5 global reanalysis data were analysed to map the spatial feasibility of satellite monitoring. We found that for the United Kingdom, VHR optical satellites could complement existing monitoring methods to achieve greater spatial and temporal coverage of live cetacean surveys, particularly, offshore, during the boreal spring and summer. However, satellites cannot address gaps in UK live cetacean monitoring in winter due to high wind speeds reducing whale detection probability. Based on environmental conditions, the tropics hold the greatest promise for achieving year-round satellite-based cetacean monitoring. In the Falkland Islands, particularly, the remote, unpopulated coastlines of West Island, satellites have the potential to improve strandings monitoring, opportunistically complementing existing stranding monitoring efforts.

 

Please, find the article here: https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.70074

 

Citation:

Clarke, P.J., H.C. Cubaynes, J.A. Jackson, N.L. Taylor, D.W. Johnston, A. de Vos, P.T. Fretwell, A. Skachkova, and G. Jones. (2025). Talking about the weather: the feasibility of using very high-resolution optical satellite imagery to monitor live and stranded cetaceans around the UK and UK Overseas Territories. Marine Mammal Science. e70074. https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.70074

 

The suitable areas identified and presented in the publication are freely available online at:

Clarke, P.J., Skachkova, A., Jackson, J.A., Cubaynes, H.C., & Jones, G. (2025). Suitable areas for very high-resolution optical satellite imagery to monitor live and stranded cetaceans around the UK and UK Overseas Territories, based on ERA5 reanalysis data (2018-2022) (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/451a6a5d-a17b-4d71-aad0-188739403d8c

 

The code to replicate identifying suitable areas for VHR optical satellites application to live and stranded cetaceans globally, is available online at:

CLARKE, P. J. & SKACHKOVA, A. 2025. feasibility-mapping [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17106752 [Accessed September 12, 2025].

Please get in touch if you have any questions or wish to discuss the paper or code in more detail: clarke.pennyj@gmail.com

Happy reading!

Best wishes

Penny Clarke, Hannah Cubaynes, Jennifer Jackson, Nikki Taylor, David Johnston, Asha de Vos, Peter Fretwell, Aliaksandra Skachkova, and Gwawr Jones.

Penny Clarke| PhD Researcher| British Antarctic Survey

High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ET

Email: penark38@bas.ac.uk

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