2015/16 Lecture Series Kicks off October 11

Future of Oceans Lecture Series presents:

Using Unmanned Hexacopters to Measure Orcas in the Wild

presented by Dr. John Durban of NOAA

Sunday, October 11 at 3 pm

Fort Worden Commons
$10 General Admission | $5 PTMSC Members | FREE Teachers & Students

Dr. John Durban is a population ecologist with a primary focus on killer whales, which he has studied for more than 20 years. He now works with the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, California.

The focus of Dr. Durban's lecture will be the use of small unmanned aircraft as a photogrammetry tool. To-date, Dr. Durban has flown 60 flight missions with a small hexacopter above killer whales collecting images to conduct research on killer whale abundance and demographics, studies of individual size, growth and body condition, and analysis of movement patterns using photo-identification and satellite telemetry.

Dr. Durban currently works on the population assessment of eastern North Pacific gray whales, the ecosystem role of killer whales in the North Pacific and Antarctic, and the response of beaked whales to Navy sonar exposure.

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THE 2015/16 FUTURE OF OCEANS LECTURE SERIES explores the frontiers of ocean research and emerging technologies as they confront the human capacity to know and sustain oceans.