DWH NRDA Marsh Bird Helicopter Survey Data

Description

Helicopter surveys were performed throughout coastal Louisiana from August 24 through September 30, 2010. Data collection and analysis was completed by staff from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineering Research and Development Center, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the U.S. Geological Survey, and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Helicopters contained three U.S. Army Automated Route Reconnaissance Kits (ARRKs) which included a system box with many components allowing the systems to aggregate a 180-degree view at a range of 30 meters, as well as record altitude, temperature, ground speed, location, time, and the audio stream of visual observations made by on-board biologists and technicians. Voice recordings were made of birds observed within 100 meters of each transect. The methodology used for these surveys was similar to one developed by the USFWS which used ultra low-level surveys to survey secretive marsh birds in a previous oil spill emergency response. The helicopters flew strip transects with start points chosen randomly. Transect lines were spaced two nautical miles apart and flown in parallel. Three types of transects were flown, differentiated by habitat type: 1. Interior Marsh Transects (IMT): total IMT width of 200 meters (buffered centerline by 100 meters on either side). 2. Shoreline Transect (ST): the centerline of the transect was 30 meters inland from the land-water interface, with a total ST width of 130 meters (buffered transect centerline by 30 meters on the water side and 100 meters on the land side). 3. Terrace Transects (TT) (manmade): total TT width of 30 meters, though many were narrower than this (buffered centerline by 15 meters on either side). Later, a fourth habitat type, Barrier Island, was used to define the STs and TTs which were flown on Barrier Islands.This dataset includes a compilation of direct outputs from the ARRK system and survey plot, point, video, transcribed voice-recorded data, and additional fields added during data processing.

Resources

Name Format Description Link
53 DWH NRDA Marsh Bird Helicopter Survey Data dataset. Dataset verification and validation completed in April, 2016. https://ecos.fws.gov/ServCat/DownloadFile/156562?Reference=103218
53 DWH NRDA Marsh Bird Helicopter Survey Data dataset. Dataset verification and validation completed in April, 2016. https://iris.fws.gov/APPS/ServCat/DownloadFile/156562?Reference=103218

Tags

  • nrda
  • helicopter
  • oil-spill
  • general-biology-species-birds
  • bird
  • marsh
  • avian
  • dwh
  • deepwater-horizon

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