Why Ecology uses Unmanned Aerial Systems
Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), also known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or drones, are aircrafts or vehicles piloted by remote control or onboard computers. The benefits that drones offer the fields of environmental monitoring and conservation are being realized by an ever-increasing number of researchers and scientists. The UAS offer quick, easy, and cost-effective insights, on demand. Their applications vary widely, as they can be used to capture extremely high resolution imagery and video that can give scientists and first responders a new perspective, and information that supports data driven decision making. Ecology operates UAS under an agency policy, following strict privacy guidelines, and in accordance with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations.
Applications for UAS at Ecology
Some examples of how UAS may be used at Ecology include:
- Aerial photography/videography
- Coastal erosion monitoring
- Spill response/Emergency response
- Photogrammetry site inspections
- Structure-from-motion modeling
- Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR)
- Vegetation mapping
- Air and water quality surveys
- Communications products and storytelling
Benefits of using UAS
- Increased safety and reduced risk for Ecology staff
- Scale of the landscape to be surveyed exceeds the capacity of staff and/or conventional aircraft
- The above ground level (AGL) operational requirements exceed the safe operation limits of conventional aircraft
- Survey equipment (cameras, video cameras, infrared cameras, radar, sonar, LIDAR) are best deployed using UAS
- Manned aircraft are unavailable
Ecology UAS Project Checklist
We fill out a project checklist every time we use UAS to support our work. Project checklists will be posted here to ensure timely sharing of information with the public. To date Ecology has not purchased or contracted UAS technology to support our work.
UAS PROJECT CHECKLISTS (coming soon)
Contact information
Sonja Larson
Response Technology Specialist
sonja.larson@ecy.wa.gov
360-480-2263
Brad McMillan
GIS Analyst/Developer & GIS Support
brad.mcmillan@ecy.wa.gov
360-407-6047