Cetacean Density Models for Southern California, Winter-Spring 2005-2015

20 California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) shipboard surveys conducted during winter and spring between 2005 and 2015 were used to develop species distribution models. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration produced fine-scale (10 km) spatial grids of average density and uncertainty for short-beaked common dolphin, Dall’s porpoise, and humpback whale. Results provide the first cool-season density predictions for these species in the region.

Use Cases

• Modeling seasonal habitat use for cetaceans based on winter-spring survey data
• Assessing potential anthropogenic impacts on marine mammals based on fine-scale density predictions
• Comparing cool-season and warm-season cetacean distributions based on described seasonal differences
• Incorporating spatial uncertainty into marine spatial planning based on the provided uncertainty measures

Strengths

• Models are based on 20 standardized shipboard surveys over a 10-year period (2005-2015)
• Provides the first fine-scale (10 km) density predictions for these species during cool seasons
• Includes spatially-explicit measures of uncertainty for the density predictions

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Data is limited to winter and spring seasons; summer/fall distributions are not included in this model set
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Generalized Additive Modeling framework applied to CalCOFI shipboard survey data

Time Range

2005 to 2015 (winter and spring seasons)

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-14 22:57:46.594146; freshness should be verified

Geography

Southern California Bight, Eastern Pacific Ocean