Satellite Tag Deployment Records for Antarctic Blue Whales

Deployment metadata for satellite tags attached to Antarctic blue whales during a 2013 research voyage. The data includes Argos transmitter IDs, precise deployment coordinates, biological attributes like sex and maturity, and tagging procedure details. It was collected by the Australian Antarctic Data Centre (AU_AADC) and last updated in March 2013.

Use Cases

• Analyze the relationship between **Deployment Method** and **Reaction (to tagging)** to optimize future tagging protocols.
• Model whale movement origins using **Deployment Latitude** and **Deployment Longitude** as starting points for tracking studies.
• Investigate correlations between biological attributes like **Sex**, **Maturity**, and **Body condition** with post-tagging **Initial Activity**.
• Assess tagging success metrics by analyzing **%age Implanted** against variables like **Airgun Pressure** and **Shot distance**.

Strengths

• Contains precise geospatial coordinates (**Deployment Lat**itude, **Deployment Longitude**) for each deployment event.
• Includes detailed biological (**Species**, **Sex**, **Maturity**) and procedural (**Tag Shooter**, **Boat driver**, **Biopsy taken?**) metadata per record.

Limitations

• Sample size is unknown and likely small, limited to a single 2013 voyage.
• Data is temporally stale, with no updates since its collection year of 2013.
• Key quantitative metrics like row count and file size are unavailable.

Provenance

Source

Australian Antarctic Data Centre (AU_AADC), accessed via NASA EarthData.

Collection Method

Field collection during the Antarctic blue whale voyage 2013, involving satellite tag deployment and biopsy sampling.

Time Range

2013.

Freshness

Static dataset from a 2013 collection event.

Geography

Antarctic region, specific deployment locations recorded.