Marine Mammals
The fieldwork for SeaBee’s marine mammal application testing starts officially in 2023, but drones have been used to count seals in Norway for the last
Applications
Validating and Improving SeaBee’s infrastructure and Products
SeaBee will be testing out its infrastructure and equipment to develop and fine-tune its capabilities in a real-world setting. Several field studies and surveys are planned as part of the project. Collecting data on the ground, using both traditional benchmark methods, new technology and drones during the project’s establishment phase, will enable validation of SeaBee’s drone products and further improve on their automated generation. SeaBee will also be taking advantage of existing and future national data collection programs to support field campaigns in areas such as the monitoring of coastal ecosystems, seabirds, marine mammals and surface water applications.
Though SeaBee’s practical applications are mostly linked to the WP5 objective of providing ground-truth data for drone product validation, there is close collaboration with WP3 to produce validation protocols for research, mapping, and monitoring applications.
Seabirds
Until now, NINA has been mapping and annotating bird nests, mostly of black-headed gulls, in the Oslofjord. A joint survey with IMR was initially planned
Coastal Habitat Mapping
This SeaBee application focuses on developing protocol for habitats in the coastal zone, including seafloor substrate types, subsurface vegetation (such as seagrass, seaweed, and kelp),
Water Quality
This application activity will start in 2023 and focus on water mass characteristics, including water transparency (relevant to the topic of ocean darkening), harmful algal