Abstract The Antarctic petrel ( Thalassoica antarctica ) has been identified as a key species for monitoring the status and health of the Southern Ocean and Antarctic ecosystems. Breeding colonies of the Antarctic petrel are often found on isolated nunataks far from inhabited stations, some up to hundreds of kilometers from the shoreline. It is difficult therefore to monitor and census known colonies, and it is believed that undiscovered breeding locations remain to be found. We developed an algorithm that can detect Antarctic petrel colonies and used it to complete a continent-wide survey using Landsat-8 Operational Line Imager (OLI) imagery in Antarctica up to the southernmost extent of Landsat's orbital view at 82.68°S. Our survey successfully identified 8 known Antarctic petrel colonies containing 86% of the known population of Antarctic petrels. The survey also identified what appears to be a significant population of breeding birds in areas not known to host breeding Antarctic petrel colonies. Our survey suggests that the breeding population at Mt. Biscoe (66°13′S 51°21′E), currently reported to be in the 1000s, may actually be on the order of 400,000 breeding pairs, which would make it the largest known Antarctic petrel breeding colony in the world. The algorithm represents a first-ever attempt to apply satellite remote sensing to assess the distribution and abundance of the Antarctic petrel on a continent-wide basis. As such, we note several algorithm shortcomings and identify research topics for algorithm improvement. Even with these caveats, our algorithm for identifying Antarctic petrel colonies with Landsat imagery demonstrates the feasibility of monitoring their populations using satellite remote sensing and identifies breeding locations, including Mt. Biscoe, that should be considered high priorities for validation with directed field surveys.

中文翻译：

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用卫星遥感在大陆范围内寻找南极海燕繁殖地

摘要 南极海燕（Thalassoica antarctica）已被确定为监测南大洋和南极生态系统状况和健康的关键物种。南极海燕的繁殖群经常出现在远离有人居住的站点的孤立的海燕上，有些距海岸线可达数百公里。因此，很难监测和普查已知的菌落，并且相信仍有待发现未被发现的繁殖地点。我们开发了一种可以检测南极海燕群的算法，并使用它在南极洲使用 Landsat-8 操作线成像仪 (OLI) 图像完成大陆范围的调查，直至 Landsat 轨道视图的最南端 82.68°S。我们的调查成功地确定了 8 个已知的南极海燕群，其中包含 86% 的已知南极海燕种群。该调查还确定了在未知的南极海燕繁殖群落的地区，似乎有大量繁殖鸟类。我们的调查表明，Mt. 的繁殖种群。Biscoe (66°13'S 51°21'E)，目前据报道在 1000 年代，实际上可能有 400,000 对繁殖对，这将使其成为世界上最大的已知南极海燕繁殖群。该算法是首次尝试应用卫星遥感来评估南极海燕在整个大陆的分布和丰度。因此，我们注意到了几个算法的缺点，并确定了算法改进的研究课题。即使有这些警告，我们使用 Landsat 图像识别南极海燕群的算法证明了使用卫星遥感监测其种群的可行性并确定繁殖地点，包括山。Biscoe，这应该被视为通过定向实地调查进行验证的高度优先事项。