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Radar Could Save Bats From Wind Turbines

Posted by kdawson on from the holy-pressure-drop dept.

mknewman sends in an MSNBC piece on a promising way to keep bats from straying into wind farms — by using radar. "Bats use sonar to navigate and hunt. Many have been killed by wind turbines, however, which their sonar doesn't seem to recognize as a danger. Surprisingly, radar signals could help keep bats away from wind turbines, scientists have now discovered. ...some researchers have raised concerns that wind turbines inadvertently kill bats and other flying creatures. ... The bats might not be killed by the wind turbine blades directly, but instead by the sudden drop in air pressure the swinging rotors induce... The researchers discovered that radar helped keep bats away, reducing bat activity by 30 to 40 percent. The radar did not keep insects away, which suggests that however the radar works as a deterrent, it does so by influencing the bats directly and not just their food. Radar signals can lead to small but rapid spikes of heat in the head that generate sound waves, which in turn stimulate the ear. A bat's hearing is much more sensitive than ours. It may be so sensitive that even a tiny amount of sound caused by electromagnetic radiation is enough to drive them out."

3 of 116 comments (clear)

  1. Potentially silly question... by RsG · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Why not just use a direct sonic system, instead of using radar pulses to generate sound indirectly? Bats have very sensitive hearing, and there are probably ways of generating noises that keep them away, either by interfering with their sonar, or simply generating unpleasant aural input. I seem to recall ultrasonic systems devised for driving off human beings, or other animal species, so it's a demonstrated concept.

    Of course, such a system could exist and use more energy, or cost more to implement. Nothing in the article about that however.

    --
    Erotic is when you use a feather. Exotic is when you use the whole chicken.
    1. Re:Potentially silly question... by shut_up_man · · Score: 5, Informative

      You have to be very careful with sonic systems and creatures like bats and flying foxes. There are arguments afoot here in Australia that many sonic systems are waayyyyyy overpowered, causing bats to freak out and drop their young, or fall straight out of the sky and hurt themselves. Although technically this is a deterrent, it isn't really a good thing for the bats, which is the main point of the system. It might be like trying to keep humans away from an area by blasting our optic nerves with a near-blinding psychedelic lightshow and being a little miffed when the human falls over backwards in shock, tumbles down a hill and breaks their legs. Whoops.

  2. Bats are not linked. by jklovanc · · Score: 5, Insightful

    For a bat to learn that something is dangerous it must encounter the danger. The problem is the only way a bat would know a wind turbine is dangerous is by dying. I can see it now. The bat thinks "that weird noise is connected to that dangerous place. I guess I should avoid it in the future" as it plummets to the ground due to burst lungs. Even if one bat could learn the danger and survive, every other bat would have to go through the same process. When we use distinctive noises to ward off animals we use their already known distress calls. There is no learning on the part of the animal.