I'm gathering information on seabirds plunge-diving maximum speeds.
Gannets are the most studied bird and there is quite a few studies on their speeds, however, for other seabirds this type of data seems to be much more difficult to gather.
The only value that I have found for terns was a rough estimate from a photographer's blog of ~26 km/h (~16 miles/h).
I would also appreciate information for Brown pelicans and any other plunge-divers.
Kind regards and Thank you.
Hi Lorian,
Why not apply Newton's law of gravity after measuring the birds, mass and air friction coefficient (in a wind tunnel). The air friction coefficient can be used to withdraw frictional speed recuction from the speed you get when the bird touches the water surface when purely based on Newton's law.
I guess you would get close to the real speed. You can also contact Lockheed-Martin to get hold of one of their nice aerodynamcs models. Could do the job as well. Though I am not sur whether they make their models publicly available;-)
And If you have some money left. Equip the bird with a high speed GPS system (water tight) and log its coordinates at high speed (30Hz?). Then you can simply calculate its speed when it touches the water surface and compare that with your modelling approach. Next thing to do is to write a nice paper about your approach. Right?
Cheers,
Frank
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