Weddell Seal Winter Foraging and Diving Behavior in the Antarctic Sea-Ice Zone

13 Access Databases contain satellite tracks, diving behavior, and water temperature data from adult female Weddell seals, collected as part of ASAC Project 2695. The data were aggregated by the Australian Antarctic Data Centre and last updated in 2007. This pilot study aimed to assess the seals' role in the winter sea-ice ecosystem and their potential as ocean sampling platforms.

Use Cases

• Modeling winter foraging patterns of Weddell seals based on satellite tracking data.
• Analyzing diving behavior (depth, duration, frequency) to infer prey consumption and energy expenditure.
• Using high-precision water temperature profiles collected by seals to study oceanographic conditions under sea ice.
• Assessing the feasibility of long-term monitoring of winter sea-ice ecosystems using marine predators.

Strengths

• Data includes multiple behavioral and environmental variables: satellite tracks, dive depth, dive duration, dive frequency, and water temperature.
• Data is stored in a centralized tracking database (Australian Antarctic Data Centre's ARGOS database) for programmatic access.
• Project scope is clearly defined with three specific objectives for data collection.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Last updated 2007-03-31 23:59:59.999000; freshness should be verified.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

Australian Antarctic Data Centre (AU_AADC), ASAC Project 2695.

Collection Method

Data collected via satellite tags and sensors deployed on adult female Weddell seals.

Freshness

Last updated 2007-03-31 23:59:59.999000.

Geography

Antarctic winter sea-ice zone.