Sargasso sperm whales 2004

Dalhousie University

Dataset credit

Hal Whitehead, Department of Biology, Dalhousie University

Contacts

RoleNameOrganization 
Primary contact David Hyrenbach Duke University Marine Laboratory
Primary contact Hal Whitehead Dalhousie University
Data entry Ei Fujioka Duke University

Citation

Abstract

The Sargasso Sea cruise surveyed marine birds and mammals in the northeast Atlantic Ocean, during the summer of 2004. This survey, onboard the Valiant 40 ocean-going research vessel Balaena, consisted of two survey legs: a sail from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Beaufort, North Carolina (May 5 - 27), and a round trip from Beaufort, North Carolina to offshore waters north of the Bahamas (June 2 - 22). Sperm whales were surveyed during both legs by members of the Hal Whitehead laboratory.

Purpose

The purpose of this cruise was to study the behavior (principally social organization), ecology, and population biology of sperm whales.

Supplemental information

This dataset includes sperm whale sightings and survey effort. The effort data include sightings during surveys (on effort) and during focal follows of sperm whale schools (off effort). The survey track was recorded by logging a position every 10 minutes using the vessel's GPS.

References

Attributes

Overview

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
month
day
year
hours
minutes
species
latitude
longitude
sighting_type
oidUnique ID number (generated by SEAMAP)
OBIS-SEAMAP ID306
Seabirds0
Marine mammals11
Sea turtles0
Rays and sharks0
Other species0
Non spatial0
Non species0
Total11
Date, Begin2004-05-06
Date, End2004-06-15
Temporal prec.111111
Latitude31.17 - 41.06
Longitude-71.01 - -63.24
Coord. prec.5 decimal digits
PlatformBoat
Data typeAnimal sighting
EffortYES (ID: 308)
Traveled (km)6,916
Effort hours1,128
Contr. through
Registered2005-08-15
Updated2008-09-30
StatusPublished
Sharing policy CC-BY-NC (Minimum)
Shared with OBIS
GBIF (via DOI)
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