one of a handful of Reuters photographers
DOCUMENTING CLIMATE
CHANGE – WITH A DRONE
Reuters September 21, 2018
Warm up
How significant is climate change in 2018? Why
are Scientists and Journalists so interested in it?
What potential benefits could a drone provide?
Reading
When Reuters photographer Lucas Jackson
headed to Greenland in June, he traveled with a
heavy, oversized rolling bag containing a crucial
piece of equipment to document climate
change.
An iceberg floats in a fjord near the town of
Tasiilaq, Greenland. New NASA data on water
temperature, depth and salinity has helped
explain why the rate of ice loss at northwestern
Greenland’s Tracy glacier is at almost four times
the rate of the nearby Heilprin glacier. That’s
because the fresh water flowing from Tracy,
which sits on deeper bedrock, is mixing with a
layer of warm, salty water off Greenland’s
coast, accelerating the melting process, the
researchers found. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson,
licensed to operate a drone, spent seven rainy
days camped alongside Greenland’s Helheim
glacier, near the small seaside village of Tasiilaq.
Impromptu prompt: Why is Tracy glacier
melting faster than Heilprin glacier? Can anyone
use a drone?
Using an Inspire 1 Pro drone, Jackson captured
more than 700 gigabytes of footage and images
in Greenland.
Drones are an emerging tool for newsgathering,
but they potentially pose several legal and
ethical challenges, including the violation of
privacy.
Until now, Reuters has used drones only on rare
occasions. But Greenland provided a perfect
opportunity since a drone is inexpensive to
operate. By contrast, renting a helicopter can
cost thousands of dollars per day.
The drone offered Jackson the ideal way to
procure bird’s eye shots and video of icebergs
and glaciers as well as footage of scientists
monitoring rising sea levels, without disrupting
their research.
“People are tempted to use a drone just to use
a drone,” Jackson says. “They should be used to
get a perspective at an elevated angle that
would be too risky or costly to get without a
drone.”
Reuters has a detailed policy on drone usage
that includes steering clear of people, homes,
protests or densely populated areas.
“We should apply heightened consideration
and sensitivity to ensure our use of drones does
not stalk, harass, or intimidate any person,
including any subject of our coverage.”
According to our rules, drones must be used in
daylight hours, at specific altitudes and at a safe
distance from an airport. As a result, our use of
drones so far has been limited. Reuters
journalists still typically take overhead shots
from helicopters.
However, drones can shoot images at a lower
elevation, often offering more granular details
since they can hover in one spot without much
movement.
In July, photographer David Gray used a drone
to document extreme drought along with its
devastating effect on cattle and crops in Eastern
Australia.
“I didn’t have time to experiment,” Jackson
said. “I had to know which shots I wanted.”
Comprehension Questions
1. What are the major benefits of using drones
to collect information on the impact of climate
change.
2. What are the rules and policies for drone
usage for Journalists?
3. What potential legal issues could drone usage
cause? Why?
4. What is the process to obtain a drone usage
license?

The drone let him quietly capture images of

farm animals, such as cattle gathered in
parched paddocks, without scaring them away.
Any Reuters journalist who uses a drone for
newsgathering must be trained and properly
credentialed. To obtain a license from the U.S.
Federal Aviation Administration, Jackson
studied weather patterns, flight maps and
federal drone laws. He also practiced flying a
drone with a Reuters colleague in a park in
Flushing, New York.
Drones can keep journalists out of harm’s way,
so they may seem ideal for covering natural
disasters, such as a volcanic eruption or
hurricanes. But even in these circumstances,
Reuters will continue to use drones sparingly
because their flight can interfere with search
and rescue missions.
Discussion Questions
1. What are the major factors influencing
climate change today?
2. What is Taiwan doing to make a positive
contribution to climate change? How is your
company contributing? What are you doing
personally?
3. Should the restrictions on drones be lifted?
Do the benefits outweigh the risks? How so?
4. What legal challenges against inappropriate
use of drones are you aware of? What
happened? Was the outcome fair? Why/ why
not?
5. What is the ‘carbon footprint’? Discuss the
issues detailed in the picture below.

For Jackson, the biggest challenge in Greenland

was preserving battery life. The drone lost
power after 10 minutes, and it took another
hour to recharge.