Gulf of Maine humpback whale satellite tagging project: 2012

Data provider
Gulf of Maine humpback whale satellite tagging project
Originating data center
Satellite Tracking and Analysis Tool (STAT)
Project partner
The project is being undertaken by multi-institutional team with expertise in whale behavior, ecology, anatomy, physiology, telemetry and wound healing processes. It includes collaborators from the following institutions:

Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) http://www.antarctica.gov.au/science

Cascadia Research Collective (CRC) . http://www.cascadiaresearch.org/

The Marine Mammal Center (MMC) .http://www.marinemammalcenter.org/

National Marine Mammal Laboratory (NMML)http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/nmml/


Research is being performed under NOAA scientific permit #14245.
Project sponsor or sponsor description
Primary research funding comes from NOAA and Exxon through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. This is a project of the National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP).

Satellite-monitored radio tags have yielded important information for the conservation and management of large whales. Tags provide far greater detail on large whale movements and habitat use than more traditional studies, and past tagging projects have revealed the existence of entirely unknown whale habitats. However, it is not uncommon for tags to stop transmitting within days to months of deployment, and follow-up studies on the individuals have been limited. Further work is needed to improve the scientific and conservation value of this technology.

In this study, satellite tagging and its effects are being examined among Gulf of Maine humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae). This is among the best studied humpback whale populations. Its strong fidelity to particular feeding sites, long feeding ground residency and strong overlap with observer effort that are expected to result in repeated sightings of tagged animals, and a maximized resighting potential in future years. The project will also produce new information on humpback whale movement and habitat use in relation to the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.

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Visit STAT's project page for additional information.

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
prognum	Program number
tag_id	PTT ID
lc	Location class
iq	Quality indicator
dir1	Dir 1
nb_mes	Number of messages received
big_nb_mes	definition not provided
best_level	Best signal strength in dB
pass_duration	Pass duration in seconds
nopc	Number Of Plausibility Checks successful (from 0-4)
calcul_freq	Calculated frequency
altitude	Altitude used for location calculation
sensors	Sensors
species	Species name
project_id	STAT Project ID
lc_filter	Parameters to location filtering
speed_filter	Parameters to speed filtering
distance_filter	Parameters to distance filtering
topo_filter	Parameters to topo filtering
time_filter	Parameters to time filtering
angle_filter	Parameters to angle filtering
life_stage	Life stage of the animal
gender	Gender of the animal
wetdry	Wet or dry
wetdry_filter	Parameters to Wet or dry filterint
obs_datetime	Date and time (local time zone)
timezone_h	Time difference from UTC