|
|
How is GIS Used in the Marine Sanctuary?
B. WALTENBERGER
The Marine Sanctuary that provides a safe
home for marine life is an area worth keeping an eye on.
NOAA has brought the technology of GIS (Global Information System)
to *monitor what goes on there. Take a moment and try to brainstorm
a list of activities that might need to be watched over, to keep this
area in and around the California Channel Islands a *haven for the
many kinds of life that call it home. A lot of the monitoring is
done through an aircraft equipped with a GIS system. This plane known
as 'Lake Renegade Seawolf' has a crew of one to three depending on the
job to be done. It is amphibious which allows it to dock right on the
shore. The aerial program flies with it's highest flight at 4,800 feet,
while watching the activities of commercial vessels such as diving boats,
whale watching excursions, freighters, fishing and recreational *vessels.
Survey flying (at about 1000') is used to keep an eye on the conditions
of the whales, dolphins and other cetaceans. By the way, there are a lot
of *crill around San Miguel, and Santa Rosa. Do you know which particular
kind of whale this crill would attract? ThatŐs right - there are many blue
whales that hang out here to take advantage of the *ample supply of crill -
their favorite food. Realtime monitoring through computer video i
s used to watch for oil spills, animals in distress, and other events that
need to be checked out. Maps and images are then e-mailed to ground locations
from the plane. What a great job this would be to have - flying around in a
really cool plane equipped with top notch technology and protecting a very
important region all in a days work.
Continue
|