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Radar Ornithology
Radar ornithology is the use of radar technology in studies of bird migration and in approaches to prevent bird strikes particularly to aircraft. The technique was developed from the observations of pale wisps seen moving on radar during the Second World War. These were termed as "angels", "ghosts", or "phantoms" in Britain and were later identified as being caused by migrating birds. Over time, the technology has been vastly improved with Doppler weather radars that allow the detection of birds, bats, as well as insects with resolution and sensitivity that is sufficient to quantify the speed of flaps that can sometimes aid in the identification of species. History According to David Lack David Lambert Lack FRS (16 July 1910 – 12 March 1973) was a British evolutionary biologist who made contributions to ornithology, ecology, and ethology. His 1947 book, ''Darwin's Finches'', on the finches of the Galapagos Islands was a landm ..., the earliest recorded use of radar in detect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. A radar system consists of a transmitter producing electromagnetic waves in the radio or microwaves domain, a transmitting antenna, a receiving antenna (often the same antenna is used for transmitting and receiving) and a receiver and processor to determine properties of the objects. Radio waves (pulsed or continuous) from the transmitter reflect off the objects and return to the receiver, giving information about the objects' locations and speeds. Radar was developed secretly for military use by several countries in the period before and during World War II. A key development was the cavity magnetron in the United Kingdom, which allowed the creation of relatively small systems with sub-meter resolution. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bird Strike
A bird strike—sometimes called birdstrike, bird ingestion (for an engine), bird hit, or bird aircraft strike hazard (BASH)—is a collision between an airborne animal (usually a bird or bat) and a moving vehicle, usually an aircraft. The term is also used for bird deaths resulting from collisions with structures such as power lines, towers and wind turbines (see Bird–skyscraper collisions and Towerkill). A significant threat to flight safety, bird strikes have caused a number of accidents with human casualties. There are over 13,000 bird strikes annually in the US alone. However, the number of major accidents involving civil aircraft is quite low and it has been estimated that there is only about 1 accident resulting in human death in one billion (109) flying hours. The majority of bird strikes (65%) cause little damage to the aircraft; however, the collision is usually fatal to the bird(s) involved. The Canada goose has been ranked as the third most hazardous wildlife spec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Weather Radar
Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar (WSR) and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its type (rain, snow, hail etc.). Modern weather radars are mostly pulse-Doppler radars, capable of detecting the motion of rain droplets in addition to the intensity of the precipitation. Both types of data can be analyzed to determine the structure of storms and their potential to cause severe weather. During World War II, radar operators discovered that weather was causing echoes on their screen, masking potential enemy targets. Techniques were developed to filter them, but scientists began to study the phenomenon. Soon after the war, surplus radars were used to detect precipitation. Since then, weather radar has evolved on its own and is now used by national weather services, research departments in universities, and in television stations' weather departments. Raw images are routinely used and speciali ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Lack
David Lambert Lack FRS (16 July 1910 – 12 March 1973) was a British evolutionary biologist who made contributions to ornithology, ecology, and ethology. His 1947 book, ''Darwin's Finches'', on the finches of the Galapagos Islands was a landmark work as were his other popular science books on ''Life of the Robin'' and ''Swifts in a Tower''. He developed what is now known as Lack's Principle which explained the evolution of avian clutch sizes in terms of individual selection as opposed to the competing contemporary idea that they had evolved for the benefit of species (also known as group selection). His pioneering life-history studies of the living bird helped in changing the nature of ornithology from what was then a collection-oriented field. He was a longtime director of the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology at the University of Oxford. Education and early life Lack was born in London, the oldest of four children of Harry Lambert Lack MD FRCS, who later became Pre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ernst Sutter
Ernst Sutter (7 August 1914 – 9 November 1999) was a Swiss ornithologist and curator at the Basel museum. Sutter was a pioneer of radar ornithology, the study of bird migration using radar, in Europe. Sutter was born in Basel where he studied. In the 1930s he participated in bird ringing at the Swiss Ornithological Institute and went to study zoology under Professor Adolf Portmann. Sutter's research was on the avian brain, its growth and development. He also conducted research on growth and moult in several bird species. Sutter completed his doctorate in 1943 and joined the museum In 1949 as a curator. He joined a collection expedition to Sumba travelling with the ethnologist Alfred Bühler. Sutter worked at the Basel museum until his retirement in 1980 but continued to work in an honorary position. A major research that Sutter undertook was on the study of bird migration using radar that he began at Zurich airport in 1954. He presented a summary of his research in 1958 at th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
