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Abstract

abstract

Euphausiid swarms are bioluminescent: low-light-level television imagery has been collected and bioluminescence radiance from swarms in the South-East Atlantic has been measured. The factors affecting a remote-sensing experiment on krill (seasonal and latitudinal daylength, ice cover, swarm distribution in space and time, patchiness, vertical distribution, density, colour and bioluminescence) indicate that both day and night techniques of remote sensing could be successful. It is suggested that the aerial/acoustic method of stock size estimation developed for pilchards may be partially applicable to Euphausia superba, and it is recommended that a pilot remote-sensing project on krill swarms be started in the South Georgia area or Bransfield Strait during middle to late austral summer to determine their bioluminescence emission parameters at night, spectroradiometric parameters by day, and swarm size frequency by day and night. Successful completion of the pilot project could provide specifications for sensor systems to be used in a future, multidisciplinary, remote-sensing acoustic research survey programme.