Aerial Oil Spill Response Survey 1994-1997

Minerals Management Service

This dataset is from the aerial surveys of marine birds and mammals in support of oil spill response and injury assessment
studies: OSPR aerial surveys [birds and mammals] study code: OS,
Contract number: FG7407-OS with California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG), Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR); and 14-35-0001-30758 (Task 13293) with the Coastal Marine Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, Principal investigators: Michael L. Bonnell, Ph.D. Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz

Time period: June 1994 through October 1998

Study area: Coastal and inland marine waters of California.

Methodology: Aerial surveys were conducted in a variety of California locales with experienced observers and trainees. The aircraft used was a Partenavia PN68 Observer provided by the Department of Air Services, CDFG, flown at an altitude of 200' (60 m) above ground level and at a typical air speed of 90 kts. Two observers (at least one experienced) occupied middle seats and searched a corridor of 50m on each side of the aircraft. Width was defined by clinometer and simple trigonometric functions. Species, numbers, behavior and other information was described on hand-held tape recorders for later transcription and computer entry. The co-pilot position was occupied by a navigator/computer operator. This individual recorded number of observers on-watch, transect status (i.e., on-effort, off-effort, and commutes), as well as sea state, weather and other observation conditions. Date, time, and position of the aircraft were recorded directly into the data-logging computer with time, latitude and longitude provided by a Global Positioning System (GPS).

Databases produced: A single database was produced including date, time, latitude/longitude, behavior, observation conditions, and other information for each sighting of marine birds, mammals, and turtles. As stated above, some surveys were solely for the purpose of drills and training, some for systematic data collection, and others for actual oil spill response.

In this study, 74 one-day surveys were flown through 1997. Through the end of 1997, a total of 670 hours were flown and, exclusive of commutes, mapped bird and mammal distribution and abundance along 31,271 km (16,886 nmi) of transects. Data from several surveys from 1998 are yet fully analyzed and therefore not included in this dataset.

Credit for this study is shared with OSPR by the Minerals Management Service (MMS), Pacific OCS Region, that provided most observers for surveys flown in Santa Barbara Channel and the Santa Maria Basin; MMS personnel also carried out tape-transcriptions and computer entry for surveys in southern California waters (this portion of the OSPR surveys was conducted under matching-funds between OSPR and the Coastal Marine Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara).

Develop and maintain a capability to provide aerial surveys of marine bird and mammal distribution and abundance for oil spill response and post-spill injury assessment.

[2020-09-30] The following invalid species names were corrected according to the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).
Bonaparte's Gull: Larus philadelphia (176839) => Chroicocephalus philadelphia (824040)
Caspian Tern: Sterna caspia (176924) => Hydroprogne caspia (176935)
Sterna elegans (176925) => Thalasseus elegans (176931)
Great Egret: Casmerodius albus (174810) => Ardea alba (554135)
Red Phalarope: Phalaropus fulicaria (554376) => Phalaropus fulicarius (176734)
Catoptrophorus semipalmatus (176638) => Tringa semipalmata (824147)
Phalacrocorax olivaceus (174722) => Phalacrocorax brasilianus brasilianus (824220)
Larus tridactyla (176874) => Rissa tridactyla (176875)
Larus sabini (176865) => Xema sabini (176866)

[2015-03-24] A few records had a wrong animal count of zero. The value is replaced with an blank representing species presence only.

Overview

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

Attributes in dataset

Attribute (table column)	Description
id	ID
study	Study code
platform	Platform code
on_	On (Y) or off (N) effort
effdate	effort date
date_0	Date in original format
date	Date of the observation
time_0	Time in original format
time	Time of the observation
species	Species name
species_code	Species code
number	Group size
lat	Latitude in decimal degrees
lon	Longitude in decimal degrees
width	Width of the transect
newborns	Number of calves
males	Number of males
females	Number of females
age	Age
sex	Sex
plumage	Plumage
assoc	Association
direction	Direction
group_	Group size
behavior	Behavior code
altitude	Altitude in feet
decline	Decline
distance	Distance
perpdist	definition not provided
reldir	definition not provided
distcode	definition not provided
comment	Comments
weather	Weather code
clouds	Cloud code
wind	Wind
seastatus	Sea status
glaredir	Glare direction
glare	Glare
seatemp	Sea temperature (-99: not available)
record	Record No.
geom	Geometry field added by OBIS-SEAMAP
oid	Unique ID number (generated by OBIS-SEAMAP)