SEFSC Mid-Atlantic Tursiops Survey, 1995 2
NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center

Southeast Fisheries Science Center, NOAA

Mid Atlantic Tursiops Surveys (MATS) were conducted in 1995 by NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center to examine the distribution and estimate an index of relative abundance for Atlantic bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) inhabiting the nearshore coastal waters in mid-and southern Atlantic bight. This data set contains sightings of not only the target dolphins but also other species including cetaceans, sea turtles, fish and shark observed during the aerial surveys. The same transects were traced three times on different dates during the survey period. This data set is the second one. The other two are provided, too, with the number following MATS95s indicating the first, second and last. Cetacean and sea turtles observed include as follows. << Cetacean >> Atlantic spotted dolphin Standard Bottlenose dolphin << Sea Turtle >> Hardshell Kemp's ridley Leatherback Loggerhead Survey's transects information is available in MATS95s2Efforts.

The purpose of this survey was to examine the distribution and estimate an index of relative abundance for Atlantic bottlenose dolphins inhabiting the nearshore coastal waters of the U.S. mid- and southern Atlantic bight.

Records with no common name are some pollution observed (e.g. plastic). Records were assigned a sequential number LineNo. LineNo can be used to match observations with corresponding transects, each of which has BegLineNo and EndLineNo fields. Observation records with their LineNo between BegLineNo and EndLineNo in a transect are related to that transect. A duplicated LineNo indicates more than one species were observed at the same time. Records include 'off-effort' sightings as well. Card 'F' indicates that the observation was done while off-effort. Card D is used for observation while on effort. When searching for a specific species, note that some records don't identify animals observed at a species level. If this is the case, the common/scientific name may be genus/family or higher (e.g. Balaenoptera sp.).

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.

The dataset contains information necessary to locate the species sightings observed in the survey. The structure of the dataset was defined by NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center. Note that the dataset is a subset of the larger, complete dataset collected in the survey which includes environmental information. The columns before LineNo are applied to the shapefile only. The following information is not included in the dataset but will be found in the master data. For details, please contact NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center. Track; Speed; GPS Status; Observers; Airplane altitude; Weather; Sea state; Turbidity; Sunlight; Glare; Water color; Water temperature; Sighting angle; Effort status.

Attributes in dataset provided

Attribute (table column)	Description
lineno
card
studyblock
part
date
time
longitude
latitude
track
speed
gpsstatus
leftobs
rightobs
datarcdr
altitude
weather
seastate
turbidity
sunlight
glare
watercolor
watertemp
sightobs
sightangle
sightinc
species
tsn
common
scientific
herdsize
nocalves
effortstat
transectno
oid