Unmanned Blog

Our current mission to the Antarctic was made possible with funding from the New Zealand Antarctic Research Institute (NZARI)

Interfacing human impact assessment and social valuation of climate sensitive landforms in the Ross Sea Region – Dr Barbara Bollard Breen, Institute for Applied Ecology, Professor Mark Orams, NZ Tourism Research Institute and Professor Steve Pointing, Institute for Applied Ecology – Auckland University of Technology

 

Conservation outcomes in the Ross Sea Region are limited by resources for monitoring past and cumulative effects of human impacts on vulnerable ecosystems and a lack of understanding of the relationships between visitor values and the environment. Our team are leaders in the development of novel “zero-harm’ remote survey tools for conservation solutions. This research will provide high resolution spatial maps of vulnerable habitats obtained from unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and spatial analysis software developed specifically for use in harsh Antarctic environments. We will interface these data with site specific visitor values to understand human interactions with Antarctic sites, thus providing solution-focused outcomes to conserve Antarctic landforms at risk from climate change.

A list of the other NZARI funded projects can be seen here

The AUT team leader Dr Barbara Breen is joined by 2015 trip veteran and Swampfox pilot Prof. Len Gillman, UAV expert Ashray Doshi and recent AUT PhD student Rebecca Jarvis.