Behaviour of Weddell seals during winter recorded by satellite tracking.

This data set contains the results from a study of the behaviour of Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddelli) at the Vestfold Hills, Prydz Bay, Antarctica. Three satellite transmitters were deployed on tagged female Weddell seals at the Vestfold Hills mid-winter (June) 1999. The transmitters were recov...

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Bibliographic Details
Other Authors: BURTON, HARRY (hasPrincipalInvestigator), LAKE, SAMANTHA E (processor), Australian Antarctic Data Centre (publisher)
Format: Dataset
Language:unknown
Published: Australian Antarctic Data Centre
Subjects:
biota
oceans
ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES
EARTH SCIENCE
BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION
MAMMALS
ARGOS &gt
ARGOS Data Collection and Position Location System
SATELLITES
CONTINENT &gt
ANTARCTICA
GEOGRAPHIC REGION &gt
POLAR
Antarctic
Vestfold Hills
Prydz Bay
Weddell
Vestfold
Antarc*
Antarctica
Australian Antarctic Division
Leptonychotes weddelli
Weddell Seals
Online Access:https://researchdata.ands.org.au/behaviour-weddell-seals-satellite-tracking/702031
https://data.aad.gov.au/metadata/records/wed_sat_99
http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-617536
Description
Summary:This data set contains the results from a study of the behaviour of Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddelli) at the Vestfold Hills, Prydz Bay, Antarctica. Three satellite transmitters were deployed on tagged female Weddell seals at the Vestfold Hills mid-winter (June) 1999. The transmitters were recovered in December, late in the pupping season. In total, the three transmitters were deployed and active 170 days, 175 days and 180 days. I used the first two classes of data to get fixes with a standard deviation less than 1 km. Most seal holes were more that 1 km apart (see Entry: wed_survey) so at this resolution we can distinguish between haul-out sites. We examine the number and range of locations used by the individual seals. We use all data collectively to look at diurnal and seasonal changes in haul-out bouts. None of the seals were located at sites outside the area of fast ice at the Vestfold Hills, although one seal was sighted on new fast-ice (20 - 40 cm thick). Considering the long bouts in the water, and that we only tracked haul-out locations, the results do not eliminate the possibility that the seals made long trips at sea. The original data are stored by the Australian Antarctic Division in the ARGOS system on the mainframe Alpha. The transmitter numbers are 23453, 7074 and 7075.

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