Meteorological bird radar

Identifying and tracking regional bird movements with meteorological radar

Birds flying at around 1 km altitude captured by radar in Florida (image credit: National Weather Service)

The goal of this project was to improve the extraction of bird and insect movement data from meteorological radars by retaining spatial details of radar echoes, which is often lost in existing methods. This biodiversity information is crucial for monitoring species, disease spread, aviation safety, and agriculture. Typical image-based tools struggled with the complexity of radar data, and while point-cloud methods were explored, they proved computationally infeasible. We introduced graph-based classifiers, which maintain the spatial structure of radar data and significantly enhance the classification process.

The project offers a novel approach for the research community, improving accuracy and efficiency in classifying biological radar echoes. We achieved a classification accuracy of 90%, overcoming challenges like a shortage of labeled data by converting point cloud data into graph representations. This was validated through rigorous cross-validation techniques.

The target audience for our results includes environmental monitoring agencies, and researchers in biodiversity and meteorology. Our next steps involve refining the tool and exploring broader applications. For more information or to explore collaboration, please contact us.

Participating organisations

Cornell University
Environment & Sustainability
Environment & Sustainability
Netherlands eScience Center
University of Amsterdam

Output

Team

BK
Bart Kranstauber
Lead Applicant
University of Amsterdam
Olga Lyashevska
Olga Lyashevska
Lead Research Software Engineer
Netherlands eScience Center
Abel Soares Siqueira
Abel Soares Siqueira
Research Software Engineer
Netherlands eScience Center
RC
Reggie Cushing
AD
Adriaan Dokter
BH
Bart Hoekstra
PhD student
Universiteit van Amsterdam
LP
Leonardo Porcacchia
Postdoctoral researcher
University ofAmsterdam
Niels  Drost
Niels Drost
Programme Manager
Netherlands eScience Center

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