Quantifying range‐ and topographical biases in weather surveillance radar measures of migratory bird activity
Abstract Weather radar systems have become a central tool in the study of nocturnal bird migration. Yet, while studies have sought to validate weather radar data through comparison to other sampling techniques, few have explicitly examined the impact of range and topographical blockage on sampling d...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/rse2.423 |
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| author | Miguel F. Jimenez Birgen Haest Ali Khalighifar Annika L. Abbott Abigail Feuka Aitao Liu Kyle G. Horton |
| author_facet | Miguel F. Jimenez Birgen Haest Ali Khalighifar Annika L. Abbott Abigail Feuka Aitao Liu Kyle G. Horton |
| author_sort | Miguel F. Jimenez |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Weather radar systems have become a central tool in the study of nocturnal bird migration. Yet, while studies have sought to validate weather radar data through comparison to other sampling techniques, few have explicitly examined the impact of range and topographical blockage on sampling detection—critical dimensions that can bias broader inferences. Here, we assess these biases with relation to the Cheyenne, WY Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) site, one of the large‐scale radars in a network of 160 weather surveillance stations based in the United States. We compared local density measures collected using a mobile, vertically looking radar with reflectivity from the NEXRAD station in the corresponding area. Both mean nightly migration activity and within night migration activity between NEXRAD and the mobile radar were strongly correlated (r = 0.85 and 0.70, respectively), but this relationship degraded with both increasing distance and beam blockage. Range‐corrected NEXRAD reflectivity was a stronger predictor of observed mobile radar densities than uncorrected reflectivity at the mean nightly scale, suggesting that current range correction methods are somewhat effective at correcting for this bias. At the within night temporal scale, corrected and uncorrected reflectivity models performed similarly up to 65 km, but beyond this distance, uncorrected reflectivity became a stronger predictor than range‐corrected reflectivity, suggesting range limitations to these corrections. Together, our findings further validate weather radar as an ornithological tool, but also highlight and quantify potential sampling biases. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-dba5961b0eb94f7980ea3a23fe9d816d |
| institution | Matheson Library |
| issn | 2056-3485 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation |
| spelling | doaj-art-dba5961b0eb94f7980ea3a23fe9d816d2025-06-28T18:00:05ZengWileyRemote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation2056-34852025-06-0111328229310.1002/rse2.423Quantifying range‐ and topographical biases in weather surveillance radar measures of migratory bird activityMiguel F. Jimenez0Birgen Haest1Ali Khalighifar2Annika L. Abbott3Abigail Feuka4Aitao Liu5Kyle G. Horton6Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado 80523 USASwiss Ornithological Institute Sempach 6204 SwitzerlandDepartment of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado 80523 USADepartment of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado 80523 USADepartment of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado 80523 USADepartment of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado 80523 USADepartment of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado 80523 USAAbstract Weather radar systems have become a central tool in the study of nocturnal bird migration. Yet, while studies have sought to validate weather radar data through comparison to other sampling techniques, few have explicitly examined the impact of range and topographical blockage on sampling detection—critical dimensions that can bias broader inferences. Here, we assess these biases with relation to the Cheyenne, WY Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) site, one of the large‐scale radars in a network of 160 weather surveillance stations based in the United States. We compared local density measures collected using a mobile, vertically looking radar with reflectivity from the NEXRAD station in the corresponding area. Both mean nightly migration activity and within night migration activity between NEXRAD and the mobile radar were strongly correlated (r = 0.85 and 0.70, respectively), but this relationship degraded with both increasing distance and beam blockage. Range‐corrected NEXRAD reflectivity was a stronger predictor of observed mobile radar densities than uncorrected reflectivity at the mean nightly scale, suggesting that current range correction methods are somewhat effective at correcting for this bias. At the within night temporal scale, corrected and uncorrected reflectivity models performed similarly up to 65 km, but beyond this distance, uncorrected reflectivity became a stronger predictor than range‐corrected reflectivity, suggesting range limitations to these corrections. Together, our findings further validate weather radar as an ornithological tool, but also highlight and quantify potential sampling biases.https://doi.org/10.1002/rse2.423aeroecologybird migrationradar ornithologyremote sensing |
| spellingShingle | Miguel F. Jimenez Birgen Haest Ali Khalighifar Annika L. Abbott Abigail Feuka Aitao Liu Kyle G. Horton Quantifying range‐ and topographical biases in weather surveillance radar measures of migratory bird activity Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation aeroecology bird migration radar ornithology remote sensing |
| title | Quantifying range‐ and topographical biases in weather surveillance radar measures of migratory bird activity |
| title_full | Quantifying range‐ and topographical biases in weather surveillance radar measures of migratory bird activity |
| title_fullStr | Quantifying range‐ and topographical biases in weather surveillance radar measures of migratory bird activity |
| title_full_unstemmed | Quantifying range‐ and topographical biases in weather surveillance radar measures of migratory bird activity |
| title_short | Quantifying range‐ and topographical biases in weather surveillance radar measures of migratory bird activity |
| title_sort | quantifying range and topographical biases in weather surveillance radar measures of migratory bird activity |
| topic | aeroecology bird migration radar ornithology remote sensing |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/rse2.423 |
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