| | Accession Number | 5004463 |
| | Title | The Use of Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) and Harmonic Radar to Locate Bird |
| | Carcasses in Agricultural Areas |
| | Project Description | The use of forward looking infrared (FLIR) and harmonic radar to locate bird carcasses in |
| | agricultural areas. Active. 990401 - 011231. The United States Environmental Protection Agency |
| | (USEPA) conducts risk-benefit analysis under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide |
| | Act (FIFRA), to regulate pesticide use in the United States. Information on wildlife mortality |
| | following operational or experimental application of pesticides is a critical variable in demonstrating |
| | risk of a pesticide. Current methods involve visual ground searches and scent searches with |
| | dogs. These methods are time consuming and cover limited areas. Therefore, the goal of this |
| | project is to develop a method that utilizes helicopter-mounted Forward Looking Infrared Imagery |
| | and harmonic radar to locate bird carcasses in agricultural fields. The Forward Looking Infrared |
| | Imagery system locates objects through thermal infrared detection. Therefore, thermal heat |
| | measurements of carcasses are being determined for five consecutive nights. This will define the |
| | suitable time for FLIR application. A computer program is used to analyze the images produced |
| | by the FLIR. Differential Global Positioning Systems Technology is being used to retrieve |
| | carcasses in the field after a positive identification with the program. If this research results in a |
| | practical method of identifying and retrieving bird carcasses in the field, the USEPA can use it |
| | more efficiently to analyze carcasses for pesticide residues. The harmonic radar system uses |
| | harmonic frequencies to detect either a passive or an active tag. The use of this technology will |
| | benefit carcass searching on a spatial and temporal scale. The project is in cooperation with EPA |
| | and University of Maryland. |
| | Keywords | birds, carcass detection, contaminants, harmonic radar, infra-red imaging, methods development, |
| | wildlife, |
| | Principal | Nimish B Vyas, USGS, BRD, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center: Nimish_Vyas@usgs.gov; Juliet |
| | Investigators | Healy, University of Maryland: Healy_Juliet@usgs.gov; Lowell Adams, University of Maryland: |
| | la3@umail.umd.edu; |
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