Robinson Willmott Julia, Forcey Greg M, Hooton Lauren A
Normandeau Associates, Inc., 102 NE 10 Avenue, Gainesville, FL, 32601, USA.
Ambio. 2015 Nov;44 Suppl 4(Suppl 4):557-71. doi: 10.1007/s13280-015-0707-z.
A scarcity of baseline data is a significant barrier to understanding and mitigating potential impacts of offshore development on birds and bats. Difficult and sometimes unpredictable conditions coupled with high expense make gathering such data a challenge. The Acoustic and Thermographic Offshore Monitoring (ATOM) system combines thermal imaging with acoustic and ultrasound sensors to continuously monitor bird and bat abundance, flight height, direction, and speed. ATOM's development and potential capabilities are discussed, and illustrated using onshore and offshore test data obtained over 16 months in the eastern USA. Offshore deployment demonstrated birds tending to fly into winds and activity declining sharply in winds >10 km h(-1). Passerines showed distinct seasonal changes in flight bearing and flew higher than non-passerines. ATOM data could be used to automatically shut down wind turbines to minimize collision mortality while simultaneously providing information for modeling activity in relation to weather and season.
缺乏基线数据是理解和减轻海上开发对鸟类和蝙蝠潜在影响的重大障碍。困难且有时不可预测的条件加上高昂的费用，使得收集此类数据成为一项挑战。声学和热成像海上监测（ATOM）系统将热成像与声学和超声传感器相结合，以持续监测鸟类和蝙蝠的数量、飞行高度、方向和速度。本文讨论了ATOM的开发情况及其潜在能力，并通过在美国东部16个月内获得的陆上和海上测试数据进行了说明。海上部署表明，鸟类倾向于逆风飞行，且在风速>10公里/小时时活动急剧减少。雀形目鸟类在飞行方向上呈现出明显的季节性变化，且飞行高度高于非雀形目鸟类。ATOM数据可用于自动关闭风力涡轮机，以将碰撞死亡率降至最低，同时为与天气和季节相关的活动建模提供信息。
