Thermal Imaging

GMI expert thermal imaging analysts use thermal imaging data to assist wind and airport developers with pre- and post-construction risk assessments for migratory birds and bats. GMI provides an analysis of thermal imaging data in order to characterize the bird migration temporal pattern at a proposed wind or airport site.

Thermal imagers can be used to detect, quantify, and monitor biological targets in the atmosphere (e.g., bird migration, bird roosts, bat colonies, and concentrations of insects aloft). Thermal imaging cameras can be used to obtain information on the temporal aspects of bird migration in addition to quantification of avian movements. The variability in the quantity of migration over a project area coupled with the occurrence of weather conditions that cause migrants to fly at low altitudes can be used to estimate the number of occasions per season when collision events could theoretically occur.

Passive infrared (IR) cameras that detect the heat generated by a target (e.g., bird or bat) and make it possible to distinguish between birds, insects, and foraging bats.

Thermal imaging analysis provides the developer with information on:

• Day-to-day variation in the amount of migration over the site
• Seasonal comparisons of the amount of migration
• Year-to-year variation in the amount of migration over the site

In addition, analysts use archived meteorological data to predict the number of occasions during migration periods when weather conditions force birds to fly at low altitude where collisions risk may increase.

The MARS®/thermal imager system is a valuable tool for:

• Measuring accurate bird migration traffic rates (MTR) for different altitudinal strata above 25 meters (82 feet)
• Estimating the potential risk of migrating birds and/or bats colliding with man-made obstacles of various heights (e.g., communication and broadcast towers and wind turbines)