Distinguishing Emperor Penguin Colonies From Space: A New Method Using the CIE Chromaticity Diagram

Penguin colony detection is an important part in Antarctic research and is significant for global ecological conservation. Meanwhile, the emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) urgently requires monitoring and protection in the 21st century. It is characterized by distinctive guano with a unique and diagnostic coloration in all its colonies. Based on this, we propose a novel method using the Commission Internationale de l’Éclairage (CIE) chromaticity diagram to identify emperor penguin colonies in Antarctica from space. This approach provides a convenient, accurate, and innovative method to distinguish emperor penguin guano at a large scale. With the application of decision boundaries, we validate the feasibility of using the CIE chromaticity diagram for emperor penguin colony detection. Our method achieves an overall accuracy of 94.83% in true-color composite and 95.44% in false-color composite, based on test samples from Sentinel-2 imagery. This enables the timely and precise identification of emperor penguin colonies, contributing to ecological conservation efforts.