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.

Satellite derived tracks of humpback whales tagged on their Antarctic feeding grounds. Data can be found here: https://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/argos/display_campaign.cfm?campaign_id=83 Satellite tags were deployed on adult humpback whales with a modified version of the Air Rocket Transmitter System (ARTS, Restech) and a purpose-designed projectile carrier at a pressure of 7.5 – 10 bar. A custom-designed, 80mm anchor section is attached to a stainless steel cylindrical housing containing a location-only transmitter (SPOT-5 by Wildlife Computers, Redmond, Washington, USA and Kiwisat 202 Cricket by Sirtrack, Havelock North, New Zealand). This superseded anchor design resulted in the anchor section disarticulating upon deployment in order to achieve improved tag retention times while minimising impact. The tags were sterilised with ethylene oxide prior to deployment and implanted up to 290mm into the skin, blubber, interfacial layers and outer muscle mass of the whale. Tags were programmed to transmit to the Argos satellite system at various duty cycles and repetition rates for a maximum of 720 transmissions per day. These transmissions are relayed to processing centres which calculate the transmitter’s location by measuring the Doppler Effect on transmission frequency.

As seabirds emperor penguins spent a large proportion of their lives at sea. For food they depend entirely on marine resources. Young penguins rarely return to their natal colonies after their first year. Satellite tracking will give us insights into where foraging areas may be that are important for these birds. This tracking work is part of a multi-species study funded by the Integrated Marine Observation System (IMOS). These data are from penguins from the Amanda Bay area, and for the 2012-13 season.

As seabirds emperor penguins spent a large proportion of their lives at sea. For food they depend entirely on marine resources. Young penguins rarely return to their natal colonies after their first year. Satellite tracking will give us insights into where foraging areas may be that are important for these birds. This tracking work is part of a multi-species study funded by the Integrated Marine Observation System (IMOS).

This dataset contains the results from satellite tracking the movements of Adelie Penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) from Magnetic Island near Davis Station, Antarctica. By the use of satellite fixes the foraging locations of the penguins were determined. Monitoring occurred during the 1993-94 and 1994-95 summer seasons. This work was completed as part of ASAC project 2205 (ASAC_2205), 'Adelie penguin research and monitoring in support of the CCAMLR Ecosystem Monitoring Project'. Further work in the Davis area was completed under other projects.

As seabirds emperor penguins spent a large proportion of their lives at sea. For food they depend entirely on marine resources. Young penguins rarely return to their natal colonies after their first year. Satellite tracking will give us insights into where foraging areas may be that are important for these birds. This tracking work is part of a multi-species study funded by the Integrated Marine Observation System (IMOS). These data are from penguins from the Amanda Bay area, and for the 2011-2012 season.

These datasets contain the results from satellite tracking the movements of Adelie Penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) from the following locations in Antarctica: Bechervaise Island, Magnetic Island, Shirley Island, Edmonson Point in Terra Nova Bay, Dumont D'Urville area. By the use of satellite fixes the foraging locations of the penguins were determined. See the child metadata records for further information. This work was completed as part of ASAC project 2205 (ASAC_2205), 'Adelie penguin research and monitoring in support of the CCAMLR Ecosystem Monitoring Project'.

Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 1251 See the link below for public details on this project. ---- Public Summary from Project ---- The aim of this study is to develop spatial GIS models of fur seal foraging density over the Kerguelen Plateau that will enable a rapid assessment method for identifying areas of high conservation value for Marine Protected Area planning and management. These models will be based on data on fur seal foraging densities in the HIMI region, and oceanographic data on bathymetry, sea-surface temperature and ocean colour (primary productivity). From the abstract of the referenced paper: We investigated the spatial and temporal distribution of foraging effort by lactating Antarctic fur seals Arctocephalus gazella at Heard Island using satellite telemetry and time-depth recorders. Two principal diving types were identified: 'deep' dives averaging 48.6 m, and 'shallow' dives averaging 8.6 m. Discriminant function analyses were used to assign dives based on their depth and duration. Generalised linear mixed-effects models of night dives (greater than 80% of all dives) indicated both spatial and temporal effects on the distribution of deep and shallow dives. Deep dives were more common in the deeper shelf waters of the Kerguelen Plateau, and these dives predominantly occurred after sunset and before sunrise. In contrast, shallow dives were more common in slope waters on the southeastern margin of the Kerguelen Plateau in the hours either side of local midnight. We suggest that these 2 distinct diving types reflect the targeting of channichthyid (deep dives) and myctophid (shallow dives ) fish, and are indicative of spatial and temporal differences in the availability of these 2 important prey groups. We also identified 3 distinct behavioural dive groups (based on multidimensional scaling of 19 diving and foraging trip parameters) that also differed in their spatial distribution and in their relative importance of deep and shallow dives. The present study provides some of the first evidence that diving strategies are not only influenced by where foraging takes place, but also when. The fields in the campaign_41_tracks.csv file are: campaign_id (the campaign identifier: aadc_campaign_41) animal_id (the identifier of the individual animal) scientific_name (scientific name: Arctocephalus gazella) ptt_id (the identifier of the PTT device on the animal. Note that individual PTT devices were deployed multiple times on different animals) deployment_location (the location of deployment: Spit Bay, Heard Island)) deployment_longitude (longitude of deployment location) deployment_latitude (latitude of deployment location) observation_date (the date of observation, in ISO8601 format yyyy-mm-ddTHH:MM:SSZ. This information is also separated into the year, month, day, etc components) observation_date_year (the year of the observation date) observation_date_month (the month of the observation date) observation_date_day (the day of the observation date) observation_date_hour (the hour of the observation date) observation_date_minute (the minute of the observation date) observation_date_second (the second of the observation date) observation_date_time_zone (the time zone of the observation date) latitude (the latitude of the observed position, in decimal degrees) longitude (the longitude of the observed position, in decimal degrees) location_class (the Argos location class of the observed position: one of (in increasing order of accuracy) B,A,0,1,2,3) trip (the trip number of the animal) at_sea (whether the observed position occurred at sea) complete (whether the complete trip was recorded) The fields in the campaign_41_supplementary.csv file are: animal_id (the identifier of the individual animal) behavioural_dive_group (1 = deep; 2 = shallow-active; 3 = shallow) departure_date (date of departure of the animal on the trip) departure_mass (mass of the animal on departure, in kg) standard_length (standard length of the animal, in cm) trip_duration (duration of the trip, in days) dive_rate (dives per hour) night_dive_rate (dives per hour) mean_dive_duration (in seconds) proportion_time_submerged proportion_night_time_submerged proportion_dives_in_bouts mean_number_dives_per_bout proportion_dives_at_night vertical_depth_travelled_per_hr_of_night (in m) proportion_vertical_depth_dived_at_night vertical_depth_travelled_per_day (in m) mean_dive_depth (in m) mean_depth_deep_dives (in m) mean_depth_shallow_dives (in m) proportion_night_shallow_dive_duration maximum_distance (in km) heading (in degrees)

The factors that control the number of animals in a population are often difficult to understand. However, this basic understanding is central to managing those populations and assessing how they might respond to human induced pressures. For animals living in the Antarctic, like penguins, the marine environment that they depend on for food can vary due to natural events such as El Nino, and potentially due to human induced changes such as global warming. This study uses modern computer technology to track Royal penguins at sea and to monitor their time on land. By relating where the birds go to feed, what they feed on, and how successfully they catch their food to the survival rates of their chicks, this study will describe how fluctuations in a major Antarctic oceanographic feature (the Antarctic Polar Front) can influence the size of the Royal penguin population at Macquarie Island. Information on breeding success, diet and foraging success were collected each year between 1997-2001. Diving behaviour and at-sea movements were also quantified between 1997 and 1999. These data will also be available in the ARGOS satellite tracking database. Attached to this metadata record are ARGOS tracking data collected by Cindy Hull between 1994 and 2000. The tracking data have been collected from 19 different royal penguins. The download file contains a csv file with tracking data.

This dataset contains the results from satellite tracking the movements of Adelie Penguins (Pygoscellis adeliae) from Edmonson Point in the Terra Nova Bay region, Antarctica. By the use of satellite fixes the foraging locations of the penguins were determined. Monitoring took place between 1994 and 2001. This work was completed as part of ASAC project 2205 (ASAC_2205), 'Adelie penguin research and monitoring in support of the CCAMLR Ecosystem Monitoring Project'.