Production of seabird flight height distributions from at-sea laser rangefinder data

Description

This project aims to create Manx Shearwater Puffinus puffinus and European storm petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus) flight height distributions from flight height data collected from boats with laser rangefinders (LRFs), which can then be used to inform collision risk models (CRMs). The aim of this contract is to assess and provide plausible analytical options to address various sources of measurement error in LRF Manx Shearwater and storm petrel flight height data, based on the (already collected) available data, and to then implement the recommended option(s) to produce a robust general flight height distribution. Ideally the project would also separately produce flight height distributions across different environmental conditions to demonstrate the potential impacts of key variables, such as wind, on flight behaviour. To meet the overall aims of this project (Section 2), the objectives are: 1. Explore existing Manx Shearwater and storm petrel data and recommend appropriate analytical options that can account for the potential sources of measurement error (as described in Section3) in LRF flight height data and production of flight height distributions. 2. Implement the recommended analytical option(s) to incorporate measurement error into flight height estimates of Manx Shearwater (and storm petrels, if possible) and generate initial flight height distributions from currently available data which were collected in 2025. 3. Provide guidance on data quality issues from the 2025 field season that could be improved upon for the 2026 field season. 4. Provide guidance on interpretation and robustness of resulting flight height distributions, and considerations for implementation within standard UK stochastic CRM (sCRM) frameworks and tools. 5. Post-2026 field season, incorporate new data into the existing dataset and integrate into analyses developed as per Objective 2, and update analytical workflows as necessary.

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