Suitable areas for very high-resolution optical satellite imagery to monitor live and stranded cetaceans around the UK and UK Overseas Territories, based on ERA5 reanalysis data (2018-2022)

This dataset presents the suitable area(s) for very high-resolution optical satellite imagery to monitor live and stranded cetaceans around the UK and UK Overseas Territories, based on five-year monthly median ''Total Cloud Cover'' and ''10m Wind Speed'' ERA5 global reanalysis data.

Monitoring live and stranded cetaceans can be expensive and logistically challenging resulting in knowledge gaps. Very high-resolution (VHR) optical satellites are considered a potential solution to addressing some of these gaps. Despite success at detecting live and stranded cetaceans, satellites have only been trialled on restricted spatial and temporal scales. We established a framework for assessing the feasibility of using VHR optical satellite-based monitoring of cetaceans at high temporal frequency and local to global scales, focusing on the UK and UK Overseas Territories as a case study. We assessed the primary environmental conditions necessary for successful application of this technology: cloud cover and wind speed. Here we present the spatial feasibility of satellite monitoring around the UK, and the Caribbean and the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), based on five-year (2018-2022) monthly median ''Total Cloud Cover'' and ''10m Wind Speed'' ERA5 global reanalysis data. The data are .tif format depicting the five-year (2018-2022) monthly median of the respective environmental variable, which is subject to a user defined threshold to generate vector (polygon shapefile) format feasibility maps, depicting the ''suitable area(s)'' mapped to the study area. For live cetacean monitoring, ''suitable area(s)'' delineate where both five year monthly average environmental variables met the predefined threshold over open water, and for stranded cetaceans ''Total Cloud Cover'' only along the coastline (2km either side of the coastline). The suitable areas are merged (and dissolved) for projects interested in monitoring both live and stranded cetaceans, which can be extended to include monitoring of floating dead cetaceans.

This research has been supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) through a SENSE CDT studentship (grant no. NE/T00939X/1) and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee.

Alternate title: Polar Data Centre (PDC) record GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/02076

Date (Publication): 2025-07-24

Citation identifier: http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/dms/metadata.php?id= / GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/02076

Point of contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
British Antarctic Survey		pdc@bas.ac.uk	Custodian
NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre	Clarke, P.J., Skachkova, A., Jackson, J.A., Cubaynes, H.C., & Jones, G.	pdc@bas.ac.uk	Originator

Maintenance and update frequency: Unknown

Keywords

NDGO0001

NERC OAI Harvesting

NERC_DDC

GCMD Parameter Valids

EARTH SCIENCE > Atmosphere > Atmospheric Winds
EARTH SCIENCE > Atmosphere > Clouds

BAS Free-text keywords

ECMWF-ERA5
cloud cover
marine mammals
remote sensing
wind

Use limitation: Data supplied under Open Government Licence v3.0 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/.

Access constraints: Other restrictions

Other constraints: Data supplied under Open Government Licence v3.0 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/.

Language: English

Topic category

Geoscientific information
Imagery base maps earth cover

Begin date: 2018-01-01

End date: 2022-12-31

Reference system identifier: OGP / urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::4326

Distribution format

Distributor contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
Polar Data Centre - British Antarctic Survey		pdc@bas.ac.uk	Distributor

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
http		GET DATA

Hierarchy level: Dataset

Domain consistency

Measure identification: INSPIRE / Conformity_001

Conformance result

Title: INSPIRE Data Specification on unknown theme Guidelines

Date

Explanation: See the referenced specification

Pass: No

Statement: The datasets were extracted from the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) reanalysis ERA5 data. The ERA5 data used in the feasibility mapping exercise is a synthetic version of Earth''s atmospheric conditions, and its performance is dependent upon the quality of observed and modelled data. As observation records are spatially and temporally biased and inconsistent in their standards, modelled data will be less accurate in regions with fewer observations. We used monthly averages to map feasibility; more refined daily products available through ERA5 could provide higher resolution information about satellite imaging feasibility than our exploration. Regardless of the timescale; daily; hourly; monthly; or yearly, analysing averages can conceal anomalous periods.

ERA5 data is a global dataset, which is advantageous for the replicability and comparability of these feasibility assessments on a global scale. However, in the future, regional reanalysis datasets or locally derived observation datasets, may provide a higher resolution alternative to ERA5, which, when combined with local knowledge, could achieve more accurate local-level assessments. The spatial resolution of ERA5 data is much coarser than the VHR optical satellite imagery we are interpreting feasibility for. The data are also much coarser than the conditions which they are representing, and which conservation managers require to make informed decisions.

ERA5 is a gridded dataset with a native horizontal resolution of approximately 31km (0.28125 degrees), which, when downloaded, is reprojected to a 0.25 by 0.25 degrees latitude/longitude (the resolution of the data in kilometres is consistent across latitude, however, longitude decreases poleward due to convergence).