We describe a simple system enabling accurate measurement of swimming marine mammals and other large vertebrates from low-altitude single-frame photogrammetry via inexpensive modifications to a “prosumer” unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) equipped with gimballed micro4/3 camera and 25 mm lens. Image scale is established via an independently powered LIDAR/GPS data-logging system recording altitude and GPS location at 1 Hz. Photogrammetric calibration of the camera and lens allowed distortion parameters to be rigorously accounted for during image analysis, via a custom-programmed Graphical User Interface (GUI) running in MATLAB. The datalogger, camera calibration methods and measurement software are adaptable to a wide range of UAV platforms. Mean LIDAR accuracy, measured from 10 bridges 9–39 m above water, was 99.9%. We conducted 136 flights in New Zealand's subantarctic Auckland Islands to measure southern right whales. Mean lengths of 10 individual whales, each photographed between 7 and 15 times, had CVs (SD/mean) ranging from 0.5 to 1.8% (mean = 1.2%). Repeated measurements of a floating reference target showed a mean error of c.1%. Our system is relatively inexpensive, easily put together, produces accurate, repeatable measurements from single vertical images, and hence is applicable to a wide range of ecological questions in marine and terrestrial habitats.

Field surveys and laboratory experiments were used to investigate the influence of the physical environment on variability in δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N signatures of Ulva pertusa, an abundant macroalgae inhabiting the low salinity layer (LSL) of Doubtful Sound, a New Zealand fjord. Field surveys revealed significant spatial variability in δ¹³C (‐18% to ‐12%) and δ¹⁵N (0% to 6%). δ¹³C was enriched at high irradiance sites and depleted at the fjord’s wave‐exposed entrance. δ¹⁵N signatures increased from 0% at the fjord head where freshwater influence is greatest to an oceanic signature of 6% at the fjord entrance. δ¹⁵N also increased by up to 4% between 2‐m depth and the LSL‐seawater interface (4‐m depth); this pattern was less pronounced near the ocean. During laboratory experiments, δ¹³C of U. pertusa became significantly enriched under high levels of irradiance (>50 mmol quanta m⁻² s⁻¹). When exposed to high irradiance, increases in water motion rapidly depleted δ¹³C signatures by as much as 5%. Variability in δ¹³C of U. pertusa in Doubtful Sound is largely a function of the light regime, which influences rates of photosynthesis and in turn the algae’s dependence on HCO₃⁻, an enriched source of carbon. However, increased water motion at the fjord entrance counteracts the influence of irradiance, leading to enhanced flux of CO₂ and depleted δ¹³C signatures. Variation in δ¹⁵N of U. pertusa is less dependent on the physical environment and instead is driven by the source pool signature, which in turn varies between freshwater and marine sources of nitrogen.

The elastic and anelastic properties of ice are of interest in the study of the dynamics of sea ice, glaciers, and ice sheets. Resonant ultrasound spectroscopy allows quantitative estimates of these properties and aids calibration of active and passive seismic data gathered in the field. The elastic properties and anelastic quality factor Q in laboratory-manufactured polycrystalline isotropic ice cores decrease (reversibly) with increasing temperature, but compressional-wave speed and attenuation prove most sensitive to temperature, indicative of pre-melting of the ice. This method of resonant ultrasound spectroscopy can be deployed in the field, for those situations where shipping samples is difficult (e.g. remote locations), or where the properties of ice change rapidly after extraction (e.g. in the case of sea ice).

In volcanology, 2D morphometric analysis is a method often applied for quantitative characterization of eruptive products, used to compare tephra from different events or phases, infer eruptive styles and underlying clast generating mechanisms, or describe the aerodynamic behavior of tephra. Such particle shape analyses can be conducted using particle silhouettes or cross-sectional slices, obtained under by means of electron or optical microscope imagery. Over the course of the last years, a number of different morphometric systems have been used. Each of them uses its own nomenclature and mathematical definitions of shape-describing parameters, some of which can only be obtained using specific commercial software. With the PARTIcal Shape ANalyzer PARTISAN we present a freeware tool which parameterizes 2D shapes and provides a suite of shape descriptors, following the respective standards of the five most commonly used 2D morphometric systems. Use of PARTISAN will enable the user to study and archive the results of particle shape analysis in a format compatible with various published routines, thus increasing the potential for linking new work with results of work previously published by other groups. It will allow as well the cross-comparison of results obtained by these morphological routines. PARTISAN hence could be seen as a “Rosetta Stone” for volcanological particle morphometry, and opens the way towards an inter-group effort for a standardized 2D description of particle shapes.