Data from: Behavioural estimation of blue whale movements in the Northeast Pacific from state-space model analysis of satellite tracks ...

• Main Authors: Mate, Bruce R., Palacios, Daniel M., Irvine, Ladd M., Follett, Tomas M.
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Movebank Data Repository 2019
• Subjects: Balaenoptera musculus; animal foraging; animal migration; animal movement; animal tracking; area-restricted search; Argos; Baja California; blue whale; Pacific Ocean; satellite telemetry; baleen whale; Blue whale
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5441/001/1.5ph88fk2; https://www.datarepository.movebank.org/handle/10255/move.837

Baleen whale migrations typically consist of annual movements between productive, high-latitude feeding grounds and unproductive, low-latitude breeding grounds. However, the actual migratory path and whales’ behaviour in these locations are poorly known. The objectives of this study were to apply a switching state-space model to the satellite tracks of blue whales Balaenoptera musculus in the Northeast Pacific to improve location estimation and gain insight into the migratory (transiting) and foraging (area-restricted search, ARS) behaviours of this population. During the period 1993 to 2007, Argos satellite tags were attached to 159 whales, mainly off the coast of California during late summer, of which 92 tracks were >7 d in duration. There was generally a southward movement during the winter to Baja California and to an area west of the Costa Rica Dome, in the eastern tropical Pacific (ETP). Travel speeds during transit were significantly faster than during ARS movements (mean = 3.70 and 1.05 km h^–1, ...