Data from: Study "Sperm whales Gulf of Mexico 2011-2013 - FastLoc GPS data" ...

• Main Authors: Irvine, Ladd M., Follett, Tomas M., Winsor, Martha H., Mate, Bruce R., Palacios, Daniel M.
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Movebank Data Repository 2020
• Subjects: Physeter macrocephalus; animal movement; animal tracking; cetaceans; diving behavior; satellite telemetry; sperm whale; Balaenoptera musculus; Fin whale; Sperm whale
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5441/001/1.44cb3946; https://www.datarepository.movebank.org/handle/10255/move.1058

Background: Argos satellite telemetry is used globally to track terrestrial and aquatic megafauna, yet the accuracy of this system has been described empirically only for a limited number of species. We used Argos-linked archival tags with Fastloc GPS deployed on free-ranging sperm (Physeter macrocephalus), blue (Balaenoptera musculus), and fin (B. physalus) whales to derive empirical estimates of Argos location errors for these species, examine possible behavior-related differences, and test the effect of incorporating species-specific error parameters on performance of a commonly used movement model. Results: Argos location errors for blue and fin whale tags were similar and were combined (n = 1712 locations) for comparison against sperm whale tags (n = 1206 locations). Location error magnitudes for tags attached to sperm whales were significantly larger than blue/fin whale tags for almost all Argos location classes (LC), ranging from 964 m versus 647 m for LC 3, respectively, to 10,569 m versus 5589 m for ...