Papers by Hans Van Gasteren
Collisions between birds and airplanes, bird strikes, can damage aircrafts, resulting in delays a... more Collisions between birds and airplanes, bird strikes, can damage aircrafts, resulting in delays and cancellation of flights, costing the international civil aviation industry more than 1.4 billion U.S. dollars annually. Bird deterrence is therefore crucial, but the effectiveness of all available deterrence methods is limited. For example, live avian predators can be a highly effective deterrent, because potential prey will not habituate to them, but live predators cannot be controlled with sufficient precision. Thus, there is an urgent need for new deterrence methods. To this end we developed the RobotFalcon, a device that we modelled after the peregrine falcon, a cosmopolitan predator that preys on a large range of bird species. Mimicking natural hunting behaviour, we tested the effectiveness of the RobotFalcon to deter flocks of corvids, gulls, starlings and lapwings. We compared its effectiveness with that of a drone, and of conventional methods routinely applied at a military ai...
Ensemble predictions are essential for accurate bird migration forecasts for conservation and flight safety
Ecological Solutions and Evidence
Journal of Avian Biology, 2010
A bird's ground speed is influenced by the wind conditions it encounters. Wind conditions, althou... more A bird's ground speed is influenced by the wind conditions it encounters. Wind conditions, although variable, are not entirely random. Instead, wind exhibits persistent spatial and temporal dynamics described by the general circulation of the atmosphere. As such, in certain geographical areas wind's assistance (or hindrance) on migratory flight is also persistent, being dependent upon the bird's migratory direction in relation to prevailing wind conditions. We propose that, considering the western migration route of nocturnal migrants through Europe, winds should be more supportive in spring than in autumn. Thus, we expect higher ground speeds, contributing to higher overall migration speeds, in spring. To test whether winds were more supportive in spring than autumn, we quantified monthly wind conditions within western Europe relative to the seasonal direction of migration using 30 years (1978Á2008) of wind data from the NCEP/ NCAR Reanalysis dataset. We found that supporting winds were significantly more frequent for spring migration compared to autumn and up to twice as frequent at higher altitudes. We then analyzed three years (2006Á2008) of nocturnal migratory ground speeds measured with radar in the Netherlands which confirmed higher ground speeds in spring than autumn. This seasonal difference in ground speed suggests a 16.9% increase in migration speed from autumn to spring. These results stress the importance of considering the specific wind conditions experienced by birds when interpreting migration speed. We provide a simple methodological approach enabling researchers to quantify regional wind conditions for any geographic area and time period of interest.
Roadmap for an animal migration explorer using weather radar data
The European Network for the Radar Surveillance of Animal Movement
Bird Migration Case Study Dataset V1.1
Bird migration case study dataset, updated during the WG3 workshop 'Visualisations: from show... more Bird migration case study dataset, updated during the WG3 workshop 'Visualisations: from show cases to production' in 2015 by @peterdesmet. Changeset Add aggregation instructions for bird migration altitude profiles Add instructions to create basemap Add forward trajectory data Change license to CC0 Update README & documentation where necessary
Avian Information Systems: Developing Web-Based Bird Avoidance Models
Ecology and Society, 2008
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 2006
Meteorological conditions significantly influence how high birds fly and are modeled as part of a... more Meteorological conditions significantly influence how high birds fly and are modeled as part of a multidisciplinary project developing a Bird Avoidance Model for military aviation in the Netherlands. Above: Gulls in Scheveningen. D uring the last few decades the potential D uring the last few decades the potential D for life-threatening and costly collisions D for life-threatening and costly collisions D between aircrafts and birds has in-D between aircrafts and birds has in-D creased dramatically. Annual damage and D creased dramatically. Annual damage and D losses to aviation due to collisions with birds are estimated at reaching billions of U.S. dollars (Richardson and West 2000; Allan 2002). The U.S. Air Force, for example, reports the loss of 32 lives, 25 aircraft, and damage costs of almost 700 million U.S. dollars since 1985 (http://afsafety.af.mil/ AFSC/Bash/stats.html). The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has long acknowledged the risk of bird hazards to civil aviation through a general set of recommendations recently transformed into standards to assess and decrease bird hazards at aerodromes
Behavioral Ecology, 2011
Anthropogenic disturbances of wildlife, such as noise, human presence, hunting activity, and moto... more Anthropogenic disturbances of wildlife, such as noise, human presence, hunting activity, and motor vehicles, are becoming an increasing concern in conservation biology. Fireworks are an important part of celebrations worldwide, and although humans often find fireworks spectacular, fireworks are probably perceived quite differently by wild animals. Behavioral responses to fireworks are difficult to study at night, and little is known about the negative effects fireworks may have on wildlife. Every year, thousands of tons of fireworks are lit by civilians on New Year's Eve in the Netherlands. Using an operational weather radar, we quantified the reaction of birds to fireworks in 3 consecutive years. Thousands of birds took flight shortly after midnight, with high aerial movements lasting at least 45 min and peak densities measured at 500 m altitude. The highest densities were observed over grasslands and wetlands, including nature conservation sites, where thousands of waterfowl rest and feed. The Netherlands is the most important winter staging area for several species of waterfowl in Europe. We estimate that hundreds of thousands of birds in the Netherlands take flight due to fireworks. The spatial and temporal extent of disturbance is substantial, and potential consequences are discussed. Weather radar provides a unique opportunity to study the reaction of birds to fireworks, which has otherwise remained elusive.
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
Weather radar networks have great potential for continuous and long-term monitoring of aerial bio... more Weather radar networks have great potential for continuous and long-term monitoring of aerial biodiversity of birds, bats, and insects. Biological data from weather radars can support ecological research, inform conservation policy development and implementation, and increase the public’s interest in natural phenomena such as migration. Weather radars are already used to study animal migration, quantify changes in populations, and reduce aerial conflicts between birds and aircraft. Yet efforts to establish a framework for the broad utilization of operational weather radar for biodiversity monitoring are at risk without suitable data policies and infrastructure in place. In Europe, the meteorological and ecological communities have made joint efforts towards sharing and standardizing continent-wide weather radar data. These efforts are now at risk as new meteorological data exchange policies render data useless for biodiversity monitoring. In several other parts of the world, weather...
The flight altitudes of several groups of birds are influenced by meteorological conditions. For ... more The flight altitudes of several groups of birds are influenced by meteorological conditions. For example, flight altitudes of soaring birds are
Anthropogenic disturbances of wildlife, such as noise, human presence, hunting activity, and moto... more Anthropogenic disturbances of wildlife, such as noise, human presence, hunting activity, and motor vehicles, are becoming an increasing concern in conservation biology. Fireworks are an important part of celebrations worldwide, and although humans often find fireworks spectacular, fireworks are probably perceived quite differently by wild animals. Behavioral responses to fireworks are difficult to study at night, and little is known about the negative effects fireworks may have on wildlife. Every year, thousands of tons of fireworks are lit by civilians on New Year's Eve in the Netherlands. Using an operational weather radar, we quantified the reaction of birds to fireworks in 3 consecutive years. Thousands of birds took flight shortly after midnight, with high aerial movements lasting at least 45 min and peak densities measured at 500 m altitude. The highest densities were observed over grasslands and wetlands, including nature conservation sites, where thousands of waterfowl ...
Journal of Neuroscience, 2008
© 2008 The Authors Journal compilation © 2008 British Ornithologists ’ Union Blackwell Publishing Ltd Extracting bird migration information from C-band Doppler weather radars
Although radar has been used in studies of bird migration for 60 years, there is still no network... more Although radar has been used in studies of bird migration for 60 years, there is still no network in Europe for comprehensive monitoring of bird migration. Europe has a dense network of military air surveillance radars but most systems are not directly suitable for reliable bird monitoring. Since the early 1990s, Doppler radars and wind profilers have been introduced in meteorology to measure wind. These wind measurements are known to be contaminated with insect and bird echoes. The aim of the present research is to assess how bird migration information can be deduced from meteorological Doppler radar output. We compare the observations on migrating birds using a dedicated X-band bird radar with those using a C-band Doppler weather radar. The observations were collected in the Netherlands, from 1 March to 22 May 2003. In this period, the bird radar showed that densities of more than one bird per km 3 are present in 20 % of all measurements. Among these measurements, the weather rada...
The MPRadar in the north of the Netherlands plays a crucial role in RNLAF flight safety. Although... more The MPRadar in the north of the Netherlands plays a crucial role in RNLAF flight safety. Although this radar is one of the best for this purpose and detects birds at 150 km distance, less than 5 % of the relevant total 3D air volume over the Netherlands is measured. Especially the lower air layers are poorly sampled. Presently, expert knowledge of the “nature and ecotechnology” section of RNLAF is needed to extrapolate these measurements to the non-measured 3D air volume and to predict the expected short-term changes in bird densities. The BAMBAS team, a multidisciplinary team of biologists, physical geographers, modellers, and computer scientists, is working towards a Bird Avoidance System (BAS). First a grid cell based Bird Avoidance Model (BAM) will be developed by integrating existing knowledge and data into four concept driven and data driven interlinked sub-models, 1) an individually based model for passerine migration, including the simulation of hourly fuel dynamics, the bir...
For military training flights bird strikes en route are still a severe problem. To reduce collisi... more For military training flights bird strikes en route are still a severe problem. To reduce collisions an international project has been launched by the European Space agency (ESA), aiming 1) for a compilation of information on current bird movements by various sensors, 2) to combine them in a single model, and to finally 3) predict bird strike risks for different spatial and temporal scales. A potential sensor to achieve these aims is the already existing European network of weather radars, but measurement accuracy has to be validated first. We compared data from three different weather radar systems with results from a specialized bird radar operating simultaneously within the range of these systems. The analysis clearly showed that weather radars are well suited for monitoring bird migration over time, and also for providing reliable height distributions of targets. Additionally, we compared these findings with the results from the long-range surveillance radar (ROBIN-system), bein...
Op de hele wereld is de aanwezigheid van vogels op en rond vliegvelden een probleem voor de vlieg... more Op de hele wereld is de aanwezigheid van vogels op en rond vliegvelden een probleem voor de vliegveiligheid, waarbij sommige vogelsoorten meer risico opleveren dan andere. Om de kans op ongelukken te verkleinen worden landingsterreinen vogelonaantrekkelijk beheerd, worden vogels verjaagd en soms gevangen en verplaatst of afgeschoten. Informatie over terreingebruik en gedrag van de vogels kan helpen zulke maatregelen effectiever en ecologisch duurzamer te maken. In deze pilotstudie werden voor dit doel 12 Buizerds gevolgd met GPS_loggers op de militaire vliegvelden van Leeuwarden Fr en Eindhoven NB. The presence of birds at and near airfields is a constant problem for flight safety all around the world. To minimize the risk of bird strikes, airfields practice wildlife management policies, including habitat modification and bird scaring techniques. To efficiently manage these populations a thorough understanding of their ecology and local behaviour is needed. Tracking birds with GPS d...
The risk of ‘bird strikes’ is a serious problem in aviation flight safety. Tackling this urgent i... more The risk of ‘bird strikes’ is a serious problem in aviation flight safety. Tackling this urgent issue, FlySafe is one of the first pre-operational services developed by ESA’s Integrated Applications Promotion (IAP) programme.
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Papers by Hans Van Gasteren