White Shark Satellite Tag Data with Depth and Temperature Profiles, 2016-Present

Pop-up Satellite Archival Tags (PSATs) were deployed on 30 white sharks from 2016 to the present, collecting data on depth, temperature, and ambient light for position estimation. Deployments occurred in Atlantic Canadian waters and the United States, with sharks ranging from 259 cm to 459 cm in length. The data, processed by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, includes maximum likelihood position estimates and depth-temperature profiles in CSV and KMZ formats.

Use Cases

• Modeling white shark migration patterns based on light-level geolocation data
• Analyzing vertical habitat use and diving behavior based on depth (pressure) profiles
• Investigating thermal preferences and ocean temperature exposure based on temperature time-series data
• Studying site fidelity and long-term movement based on tag recovery events mentioned in the description

Strengths

• Data spans from 2016 to the present, indicating ongoing collection and updates
• Includes 30 individual shark deployments with known sex for 28 individuals (15 female, 13 male)
• Provides multiple data outputs: position estimates, depth profiles, and temperature profiles

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• 22 of 27 tags reported data, with 3 still at liberty, indicating some data loss or delay

Provenance

Source

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Collection Method

Data collected via Pop-up Satellite Archival Tags (PSATs) from Wildlife Computers, processed through Wildlife Computers software (GPE3)

Time Range

2016 to present

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-24 09:05:03.014274

Geography

Atlantic Canadian waters, Cape Cod (USA), South Carolina (USA)