The Center for Whale Research is using a novel approach to tracking orca whales.  They are using the only operational zeppelin in the United States,  the Airship Eureka, on loan from Farmers’ Insurance, the company that sponsors the zeppelin, which donated a day of flying for the orca survey in Washington’s Puget Sound.

Zeppelin offers rare views of whales

The 246-foot-long zeppelin took off recently from an airfield in Everett, Wash., and hovered to the U.S.-Canadian border — an hour’s flight away.

Scouting boats had tracked the orca pod as the zeppelin floated aloft. Known as the southern resident killer whales, this group was designated as endangered in 2005. They live permanently in the Puget Sound, hunting salmon and other fish.

Whales move at about 3 mph, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration biologist Brad Hanson said, which made the zeppelin’s hovering pace even more useful for observations.

The researchers were able to observe about two dozen whales from the zeppelin. They watched them swim in tight groups, roll around each other and “spy hop,” moving with heads above water.

They were able to catch glimpses of the way whales behave and move underwater, something they can’t observe from boats, Hanson said.

“I get to see whales every day from a boat, and I get to see them closer than most people do,” researcher Erin Heydenreich said. “But seeing them from the air is just a completely different picture … watching the way they move together underwater is just incredible.”

Of course, a zepplin traveling low and slow is an unusual sight.  In fact, it was reported to authorities as a UFO.

UFO? Scientists Go To Great Heights To Study Orcas

Thanks to Ann Brown for pointing out the article.