Read the second MARCIS Newsletter for project progress and highlights.
Bird radar from Robin radar systems. Photo: Roel May
Dear reader,
The 2022 field season has come to an end, and several MARCIS researchers have participated in fieldwork at various seabird key sites along the coast. Data have been collected for the SEAPOP and SEATRACK programs which the MARCIS project relies on. On our website you can read a MARCIS field report regarding the importance of ringing data, explanations of how GPS and GLS technology is used to map and monitor seabirds, and how these types of data will be used in MARCIS. These stories have also been posted in Norwegian on “Sjøfuglbloggerne”, a forskning.no blog which has started up again after a six-year break.
In WP2 the aim is to investigate how birds are responding to offshore wind turbines in Hywind Tampen, the world’s largest floating offshore wind farm. The first of 11 turbines were installed in May and the rest will follow soon. A bird radar from Robin radar systems was installed on one of the turbines. Data collected from this radar will help us to investigate how migratory birds and seabirds in the area respond when they migrate through or forage in the vicinity of offshore wind turbines. We are excited for the outcome of the work with the radar data!
Other important news is that the two post-doc positions that were advertised earlier this year have been filled. Lila Buckingham started working on seabird sensitivity in WP3 on the first of September. She will define the structure and design of the agent-based models and quantify individual sensitivity with respect to the different anthropogenic stressors. Emma Jane Critchley is a post-doc in MARCIS WP2 and started in the middle of September. She will be working on avian radar data and develop methodology to automatically identify bird species from radar track data using machine learning. This will be used to understand more about the birds’ behaviour when they are in the vicinity of turbines. Emma has already been doing ground-truthing (identifying birds) at Fedje, where a bird radar has been placed. Both Emma and Lila will be involved in communicating results to stakeholders. We are very happy to have them in our MARCIS team!
This autumn our focus has been on compiling data, and analytic and modelling work. WP1 have done a great job in mapping seabird distribution and marine industrial activities, which will be implemented into the MARCIS data catalogue and the MARICS tool in WP5. In WP3 and WP4 the modelling is progressing. WP4 has special focus on analysing the impact of climate and ecosystem change on populations this autumn.
We plan to present the outcomes of the work MARCIS has done so far in the Stakeholder meeting in early February 2023, and look forward to discussing and co-designing future MARCIS work with all the stakeholders. Stay tuned!
Best wishes,
Tone Kristin Reiertsen (MARCIS project leader)
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