Evaluation of a ship-based unoccupied aircraft system (UAS) for surveys of spotted and ribbon seals in the Bering Sea pack ice

The remote pack ice of the arctic and subarctic seas is challenging to access, yet extremely important to understand and monitor. The pack ice holds the key to understanding ecosystem responses to climate change and is vital habitat for many species including ice-associated seals. Unoccupied aircraft systems (UAS) are a new class of tools that may overcome the traditional challenges associated with expansive offshore surveys. We conducted UAS flights over the pack ice during a spring 2009 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) cruise to the Bering Sea to determine whether advances in UAS technology can enable effective large-scale, systematic ship-based surveys for seals in the seasonal ice of the Bering, Beaufort, and Chukchi Seas. A fixed-wing ScanEagle UAS was successfully launched and recovered from the NOAA ship McArthur II to conduct small-scale transect surveys up to 5 nautical miles (M) from the ship's position. More than 27 000 images were collected from 10 flights over the Bering Sea pack ice and seals were identified in 110 of these images. Review of the images indicated a marked reduction in disturbance to seals when compared to images collected from occupied, low-altitude helicopter surveys. These results suggest that large-scale UAS surveys of arctic and subarctic habitat in United States airspace will be possible with improvements in technology, reduced operational costs, and the establishment of inclusive airspace regulations.