Climate change combined with an ever-increasing human footprint is strongly impacting the polar ecosystem. It has become imperative to collect more frequent and accurate data and at the same time monitor various species. It is important to understand the role that non-invasive data-capturing and identification methods can play in assessing the vulnerability of species, apart from their reaction to climate change.

This literature review looks at various studies covering satellite imagery, infrared and thermal imagery, pattern matching, and respiratory and faecal analysis. The different studies highlight the use of various techniques on specific species (primarily penguins, pinnipeds and whales). The papers have been chosen from the last twenty years and offer diverse perspectives (such a range also allows for inclusion of long-term studies that might have started earlier but concluded in the recent past). The literature chosen is more a yardstick for comparison than a benchmark in methodology, as it will be technology that will drive scientific change in the near (Antarctic) future.