Sargasso 2004 - Seabirds

Hal Whitehead, Department of Biology, Dalhousie University

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). Seabirds were surveyed during the second leg of this cruise by Lesley Thorne, a graduate student from the Duke University Marine Laboratory.

The seabird survey data summarize the distribution and abundance of marine birds during the Sargasso Sea cruise.

This dataset includes survey effort and sightings 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.

The dataset has been updated over time as outlined below. Each entry includes the version number, release date, type of change, and a short description.

Overview

Attributes are defined by Northwest Atlantic Seabird Catalog.

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
observation_id	Unique id of record in NWASC
source_obs_id	Source observation ID by original provider
local_obs_id
transect_id	Transect ID
source_transect_id	Source Transect ID by original provider
local_transect_id
whole_transect
dataset_id	Dataset ID within Catalog (different from OBIS-SEAMAP Dataset ID)
source_dataset_id
local_survey_id
longitude	Longitude in decimal degrees
latitude	Latitude in decimal degrees
obs_dt	Date of observation
obs_start_tm	Start time of observation
obs_end_tm	End time of observation
seconds_from_midnight_nb
original_species_tx
spp_cd	Species code in NWASC
observer_confidence_tx
obs_count_intrans_nb
obs_count_general_nb
animal_age_tx	Age of animal
age_id	Age code
animal_sex_tx	Animal gender
sex_id	Gender code
plumage_tx	Plumage of animal
behavior_tx	Behavior of animal
behavior_id	Behavior code
travel_direction_tx	Travel direction
flight_height_tx	Flight height
distance_to_animal_tx	Distance to animal
angle_from_observer_nb	Angle from observer
association_tx	Association
seastate_beaufort_nb	Beaufort seastate
wave_height_tx	Wave height
whitecaps_tx	Whitecaps
visibility_tx	Visibility
glare_tx	Glare
wind_speed_tx	Wind speed
wind_dir_tx	Wind direction
cloud_cover_tx	Cloud cover
weather_tx	Weather
seasurface_tempc_nb	Sea surface temperature in celsius
salinity_ppt_nb	Salinity in ppt
platform_tx	Platform
station_tx
survey_type	Survey type
heading_tx	Heading
observer_tx	Observer name
obs_position	Observer position
visit
camera_reel
datafile
observer_comments_tx	Comments
date_created
who_created
date_imported
who_imported
admin_notes
sf_type
geom_nad83	Not used.