September 2008 data from a single 610 cm female basking shark tracked for 125 days via a Pop-up Satellite Archival Tag. The dataset contains processed maximum likelihood position estimates, depth (pressure), temperature, and ambient light level profiles. Data was collected in Atlantic Canadian waters and processed using Wildlife Computers GPE3 software with specific environmental references.
Use Cases
- Model basking shark vertical habitat use by analyzing depth (pressure) and temperature profiles over the 125-day track.
- Estimate daily geolocation using ambient light level data processed with NOAA OI SST V2 and ETOPO1-Bedrock references.
- Analyze behavioral patterns such as surface 'basking' through time-series of depth and temperature data.
- Correlate environmental temperature from the tag with external sea surface temperature data for habitat preference studies.
Strengths
- Contains detailed time-series data from a 125-day satellite tag deployment on a large (610 cm) individual.
- Includes multiple data types: geolocation estimates, depth profiles, and temperature profiles.
- Data processed with defined parameters including a maximum swimming speed of 2m/s and referenced environmental datasets.
Limitations
- Data is from a single animal (n=1), limiting population-level inferences.
- Temporal coverage is limited to a specific period in 2008, which may not represent current conditions.
- Position estimates are derived from light-level geolocation, which has inherent accuracy limitations compared to GPS.
Provenance
- Source
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada
- Collection Method
- Data collected via a Wildlife Computers PSAT Mk10 pop-up satellite archival tag deployed on a commercial vessel, processed through GPE3 software.
- Time Range
- September 2008, for a 125-day deployment period.
- Freshness
- Data is from 2008, but the record was last updated in the catalog on 2026-03-24.
- Geography
- Atlantic Canadian waters.