Katie Sweeney, NOAA’s Marine Mammal Lab in the Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, WA

Do you have a toy drone at home? Join in to learn about how the Marine Mammal Lab is using drones for learning more about wildlife. The Alaska Ecosystem Program studies Steller sea lions in Alaska using drones and we’re just figuring out how we can use them to learn more about northern fur seals! (Grade 2-6 but all ages will enjoy)

Resources to access at home:

» Video that shows how the hex drone works (Katie uses this video in her webinar)
» Southern Ocean seal monitoring: Help monitor populations of seals across the world by tagging time-lapse and drone photographs.
» Science blogs on using drones:

Fur seals on Bogoslof Island: Post 4- Evolving Science on an Evolving Island – Katie’s team tested two camera systems on drones on Bogoslof Island in Alaska in September 2019
New Drone Technology Could Revolutionize Marine Mammal Monitoring
Investigating Steller Sea Lion Declines on Remote Aleutian Islands – Science Blog – fieldwork from 2016
Endangered Steller Sea Lions Get a Closer Look from Online Community of Citizen Scientists
Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International – Student Unmanned Aerial Systems Competition
Examples of using Unmanned Aerial Systems in NOAA research – NOAA Unmanned Aerial Systems Program