Pygmy Blue Whale Satellite Telemetry with Behavioral States, 2015

An R data file contains a hierarchical switching state-space model of pygmy blue whale Argos-collected telemetry data. The model estimated location states at regular 3-hour intervals and behavioral states for each location. Satellite tags were deployed on whales in the Bonney Upwelling region, SA, between 7 January and 16 March 2015.

Use Cases

• Modeling animal movement trajectories based on satellite-derived Argos locations.
• Inferring behavioral states (e.g., migrating vs. foraging) associated with estimated locations.
• Analyzing whale movement patterns in the Bonney Upwelling region based on the described geography.
• Testing state-space modeling techniques like bsam on irregularly observed telemetry data.

Strengths

• Model accounts for measurement error in irregularly observed Argos surface locations.
• Data includes behavioral state estimates for each location.
• Locations are estimated at regular 3-hour intervals.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

AU_AADC

Collection Method

Argos-collected satellite telemetry data processed with a hierarchical switching state-space model using the bsam package.

Time Range

7 January to 16 March 2015

Freshness

Last updated 2016-03-16 23:59:59.999000; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Bonney Upwelling region, SA