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Drone’s-eye View

WHOI biologist Michael Moore releases a drone from a boat in the Gulf of Corcovado off the southern coast of Chile while a blue whale swims in the distance. In the spring of 2015, Moore worked with collaborators from WHOI, NOAA, and the MERI Foundation, a Chilean conservation organization, on a project to study the health of blue whales using high-resolution images taken with the drone. In a process known as photogrammetry, the researchers analyzed the photos to measure the length and body condition of the whales, and to draw conclusions about whether the animals were getting enough food.(Photo by Gloria Howes, MERI Foundation; Research conducted under Chilean permit MERI-488-FEB-2015.)