DECAF - AUTEC Sperm Whales - Multiple Sensors - Complete Dataset
Density Estimation of Cetaceans from passive Acoustic Fixed sensors (DECAF)

N/A

This archive contains data on sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) recorded at the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC) in the Tongue of the Ocean, Bahamas in August/September 2007. Data are provided showing when sperm whales were detected on the range during the time period, details about the availability of the acoustic data used in the analysis and finally, the number and size of sperm whale groups localized. This data represents sperm whale detections on the range during the complete study period. 44 days were monitored using an automatic detector for the presence of sperm whales: 12 Aug 2007 (julian day 224) – 24 Sept 2007 (julian day 267). This file documents when sperm whales were detected by the AUTEC range (the detections were verified by an observer).

This dataset used multiple hydrophones at AUTEC to detect sperm whale clicks. Click trains from individual whales were identified, enabling the number of diving whales to be estimated. Assuming that all diving sperm whale groups at a given time are detected by AUTEC, then density of diving sperm whales can be estimated.

The related dataset of number of whale groups localized can be found at http://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/680.
Original data can be downloaded at http://www.creem.st-and.ac.uk/decaf/decaf-data-files under Case Study 2: Sperm whale data
Hydrophone locations are approximate.

Jessica A. Ward, Len Thomas, Susan Jarvis, Nancy DiMarzio, David Moretti, Tiago A. Marques, Charlotte Dunn, Diane Claridge, Eva Hartvig and Peter Tyack. in press. Passive Acoustic Density Estimation of Sperm Whales in the Tongue of the Ocean, Bahamas. Marine Mammal Science

Overview

Attributes described below represent those in the original dataset provided by the provider.
Only minimum required attributes are visible and downlodable online. Other attributes may be obtained upon provider's permission unless otherwise noteded below.

This section explains attributes included in the original dataset. OBIS-SEAMAP restricts the attributes available to the public to date/time, lat/lon and species names/counts only. Should you need other attributes described here, you are encouraged to contact the data provider.

Attributes in dataset provided

Attribute (table column)	Description
oid	OBIS-SEAMAP ID
set
song
archive_filename
start_datetime
end_datetime
presence
sperm_whale_start_time
sperm_whale_stop_time
start_hyds
questionable_hydrophones
sperm_whales_on_quest_hyds
comments
hydrophone	Hydrophone number that detected the vocalisations. It is possible that only the main hydrophones detecting a particular sperm whale group are listed here.
sp_tsn	ITIS species tsn code
sp_obs	The species detected
obs_date	Calling bout start date
obs_time	Calling bout start time (GMT)
latitude	Instrument Latitude
longitude	Instrument Longitude
depth	Instrument Depth
end_date
end_time
obs_count	Minimum number of vocalizations