Antarctica: Census of penguins thanks to first Italian drones

For the first time in Antarctica drones operated by ENEA researchers flew over the Italian base "Mario Zucchelli" and the surrounding area to support the scientific activities of the last expedition, the 34th Summer Campaign of the National Antarctic Research Program (PNRA), funded by the MIUR and implemented by ENEA for logistics and by the CNR for scientific coordination.

The two drones have provided high resolution images to numerous projects, creating an actual photo book available to researchers. Among the projects  is “PenguinERA”,  for which the use of the drones made it possible  to estimate the number of chicks present at the end of January in the Adelia penguin colonies of Adélie Cove and Edmonson Point, respectively 10 km south and 50 km north of the Italian base.

"The drone flew over some aeas of the two colonies in order to take preliminary photographic recordings to perform total counts in the future, to be then put in relation to the visual counts from the ground. These data will be used to estimate the annual reproductive success of the study groups”, Silvia Olmastroni, researcher at the National Museum of Antarctica at the University of Siena and Head of the project, explained. "Adélie Cove is a colony of about 13-15 thousand nests, while that of Edmonson Point has about 2.800; here the drone  filmed the chicks in the most numerous area and where it’s more difficult to count the nests,  approximately 1.900 ” Olmastroni concluded.

Three flights were made over the colonies, with high resolution geolocated videos and photos (20Mpx); the drone flew at 150 meters from the border of the colony and was  operated by Riccardo Scipinotti and Samuele Pierattini of ENEA.

These aerial shots were particularly useful for estimating the number of Adelia penguin chicks, given the difficulty in estimating this group from the ground due to the density of the individuals and the conformation of the terrain, " Scipinotti concluded.

"The use of the drone was evaluated and agreed on with the various field managers, to ensure safety  and respect of the Antarctic fauna. Researchers from the project PenguinERA made video footage from below, before, during and after the drone's passage, to assess its behavioral response,” Scipinotti explained. "These aerial shots proved particularly useful for estimating the number of Adelia penguin chicks, given the difficulty of estimating this group from the ground due to the density of the individuals and the conformation of the terrain ", Scipinotti concluded.

In the next summer campaign beginning at the end of the year, the "drone service" will be operating full time to support research, logistics and management of the Zucchelli and Concordia bases.

For more information please contact:

Riccardo Scipinotti, ENEA – Antarctica Technical Unit, riccardo.scipinotti@enea.it