Pacific Walrus Coastal Haulout Occurrences Interpreted from Satellite Imagery
Dates
Publication Date
2022-09-07
Start Date
2022
End Date
2023
Last Revision
2024-05-29
Citation
Fischbach, A.S., Douglas, D.C., 2022. Pacific Walrus coastal haulout occurrences interpreted from satellite imagery (ver 4.0, May 2024): U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9CSM0KN.
Summary
This dataset is derived from images from a variety of Earth observing satellite imagery sources collected at known walrus coastal haulouts in Alaska and Chukotka, Russia. Earth observing imagery sources used in this data release include (but are not limited to) optical imagery collections by: (1) the European Space Agency's Sentinel-2 mission, (2) the Plant Labs Planet Scope constellation, and (3) Maxar satellites, as well as synthetic aperture radar imagery collected by: (1) European Space Agency's Sentinel-1 mission, (2) the DLR (German Aerospace Agency) TerraSAR-X satellite, (3) the Umbra Space satellite constellation, (4) the Canadian Radarsat-2 satellite, (5) the Capella Space satellite constellation and (6) the Finnish Iceye [...]
Summary
This dataset is derived from images from a variety of Earth observing satellite imagery sources collected at known walrus coastal haulouts in Alaska and Chukotka, Russia. Earth observing imagery sources used in this data release include (but are not limited to) optical imagery collections by: (1) the European Space Agency's Sentinel-2 mission, (2) the Plant Labs Planet Scope constellation, and (3) Maxar satellites, as well as synthetic aperture radar imagery collected by: (1) European Space Agency's Sentinel-1 mission, (2) the DLR (German Aerospace Agency) TerraSAR-X satellite, (3) the Umbra Space satellite constellation, (4) the Canadian Radarsat-2 satellite, (5) the Capella Space satellite constellation and (6) the Finnish Iceye constellation. This data package provides: A) geospatial polygon outlines of walrus herds apparent to trained interpreters in satellite images; B) a table listing the satellite images examined that had clear views of the walrus coastal haulout study sites and the area of all walrus herds (if any were present) summarized from the geospatial polygon outlines of walrus herds apparent to trained interpreters, and C) maps (not available for all haulouts in all years) showing interpreted herd outlines superimposed on the satellite images.
This dataset includes previously released data and supersedes that USGS data release (https://doi.org/10.5066/P97NFTDU)
Additional walrus satellite image-derived walrus haulout outlines from near Pt Lay, Alaska, are available in another USGS data release (Fischbach and Douglas 2021; https://doi.org/10.5066/P9S2UL7N)
Version History:
First release: September 2022
Revised: December 2022 (ver. 2.0)
Revised: February 2024 (ver. 3.0)
Revised: May 2024 (ver. 4.0)
These data were collected and interpreted to support near real time management decisions of Pacific walruses at coastal haulouts, and to improve satellite interpretation methods of walrus herds and carcasses on shore.