An outline of the blue whale voyages of 2012 can be found here: http://www.marinemammals.gov.au/sorp/antarctic-blue-whale-project/bonney-upwelling-acoustic-testing-expeditions with further information here: http://www.marinemammals.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/135617/SC-64-SH11.pdf The 'Logger' data entry system was developed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and is a flexible system to record information during a voyage. This system was the primary data entry system for the voyage and all events were recorded in Logger’s database. Blue whale voyage 1 datasets: 12 - 25 January 2012 Sightings from the first blue whale voyage are recorded across three access databases: 20120117LoggerFinalPart1Updated.mdb 20120121LoggerFinalPart2Updated.mdb 20120125LoggerFinalPart3Updated.mdb These databases contain tables describing: Comments: details additional to sightings entered or data entry omissions, time stamped (UTC) Observer effort - codes found in lookup table, date/time in UTC GPS data (time stamped, UTC) and heading Lookup - contains all topic codes to apply to all other tables Resights: resighting details for sightings already recorded, time/date in UTC, initial sighting number, blow count and notes Cetacean sightings - date/time in UTC, sighting number, observer name, vessel, estimate of distance, bearing, heading, species code, sighting cue code, estimate of number of individuals (low, best and high), group behaviour, pod compaction, surface synchronicity and comments Weather: Date/time in UTC, sightability, glare, sea state, wind strength, swell, weather, cloud cover, cloud height, notes Blue whale voyage 2 datasets: 13 - 30 March 2012 GPS data is stored in the file called 'gps_meld_data_exp.csv'. This is an amalgam dataset of two GPS data streams, that has been checked and corrected (see 'Quality' for further details. Date time is stored in two formats. The first is %Y-%m-%d %H-%M-%S format, as in "2012-03-16 17:54:32". The second format is a concatenated, orderable numeric string, as in 20120316175432. ### The small file 'trip_db.csv' contains a quick reference as to when the four trips of blue whale voyage 2 started, to the minute. These times have been corrected for the minor (i.e, 2 mins 15 second) error (see 'Quality' below). ### Effort database is contained in the file 'VWhale2_database_effort_corrected.csv'. A fair amount of 'correction' has gone on with this data as there were great variations in the way different people were adding new information into Logger. Furthermore, there were 'innovations' made to the Logger system, particularly after the first couple of trips. In particular, the effort was added to Logger in the first trip was exactly as it was in the first voyage (the VL was too seasick to make any amendments). So, according to the older effort classification, effort for the *first trip* started and ended, but there were no observer rotations or notes taken as to what platform the observers were perched on. Given there was quite a bit of seasickness that first day, the only observers likely to be working would have been PE, PO and DD. These observers favoured the Fly Bridge so all sighting effort for the first trip has been allocated to these observers on the Fly Bridge. The subsequent innovations were: observers were not told how far away a potential calling whale was. If, however, the acousticians thought that we were almost upon the animal(s), they will indicate this to the observing team. Acoustic.search == 1 indicates when the acousticians have notified observers that there was a group of blue whales in the area. Local.Search == 1 indicates that after an initial sighting was made, sighting effort and boat movement converted into a search to get closer to the animal(s) in order to confirm their species (not usually such a huge issue with blue whales, admittedly), group size and to get photo-ID. FD == 1 when effort on the foredeck either started or continued. FB == 1 when effort on the fly bridge either started or continued. For the effort types, the effort interval is defined as the time between the row the '1' value first appears and the date/time of the next row of the similar effort type. Index.new: Because two databases were merged to form the one effort dataset (the first trip had its own Logger MS-Access database), an overall index, Index.new, was created for continuity. Index: Effort index as it appears in the original Logger MS-Access databases. GpsIndex: In Logger, each Effort (or sighting) row is tagged with the accompanying GPS index number. This ties an effort event with the date/time and geographical location information displayed in the GPS data. GPSIndex.cor: As with GpsIndex but, again, as the databases were merged, a new GPSIndex value was created (.cor == corrected) to account for this, and for the added BPM GPS data. GpsTime: Date (only), as derived from GPS. Has been abbreviate to only date due to the joys of how Microsoft packages deal with date/time objects; full date/time value for each effort row can be derived from the GPS data, via the GPSIndex.cor value EffortNo: Each effort row has been assigned a unique number within each respective MS-Access Logger file. This is somewhat redundant with the Index value. Local time: When Logger records an event, it also takes a date/time value from the local computer. It's not really clear to me what this value actually represents. Observer: The head observer at the time the effort event was logged. Basically, just means the person driving the Logger computer (i.e., physically entering values and making weather obs) Event: Each event has a unique descriptor number. See the 'Lookup' table in the MS-Access database. Event.cor: This column should be completely ignored. Notes: Any comments that accompanied particular effort entries. See also the Comments table for notes not specifically related to any Effort entries. Platform: Which sighting platforms observers either started or stopped effort on, or rotated through. Unfortunately, this information wasn't always consistently recorded. See the FB and FD columns for a more correct record of when sighting effort was on and off. Platform.cor: This column should be ignored. Observers: All observers on rotation. Sonobuoy: when the launching of a sonobuoy was noted in Logger, here are the numbers (this is not a complete list) Trip: which trip it was ##### Sightings for all species are given in 'sightings.csv'. ##### Weather observations are in 'weather.csv'. Recording of glare angles (i.e., start and end bearing) started on third trip. ##### Comments in 'comments.csv'. Please note there were no comments recorded during the first trip.

The ‘Logger’ data entry system was developed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and is a flexible system to record information during a voyage. All events occurring during daylight operations such as sightings, biopsy attempts and sonobuoy deployments were recorded in a customized data entry program Logger along with weather and effort data. The logger access database contains all data collected throughout theNZ/Aus Antarctic Ecosystems Voyage 2015 related to: Biopsy events (date/time in UTC, success, sample number, reaction, attempts, dart recovery, notes) Comments - time stamped (UTC) with GPS index providing additional detail Observer effort (effort status, event, number of observers and locations, ship guide and data logger) Environmental observations (sightability, sea state, swell, weather, cloud cover, visibility, intensity, glare, ice, sea surface temperature) GPS data - time indexed NMEA feed, also containing heading and ship speed Lookup - table containing topic codes describing the codes that appear in all other tables Cetacean sightings and resightings (date/time in UTC), sighting number, sighting platform, estimate distance, binocular reticles, angle, species, sighting cue, heading, estimate of number of individuals, observer of sighting, behaviour, pod compaction, comments) Sonobuoy deployments (date/time in UTC, sonobuoy number, notes)

The ‘Logger’ data entry system was developed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and is a flexible system to record information during a voyage. This system was the primary data entry system for the voyage and all events were recorded in Logger’s database. The logger access database contains all data collected throughout the Antarctic blue whale voyage related to: Observer effort (effort status, event, number of observers and locations, ship guide and data logger) Cetacean sightings and resightings (time, sighting number, sighting platform, estimate distance, binocular reticles, angle, species, sighting cue, heading, estimate of number of individuals, observer of sighting, behaviour, pod compaction, comments) Sonobuoy deployments (time, sonobuoy number, notes) Environmental observations (sightability, sea state, swell, weather, cloud cover, visibility, intensity, glare, ice, sea surface temperature) GPS data (time indexed NMEA feed) CTD deployments (time, notes) Biopsy events (time, success, sample number, reaction, attempts, dart recovery, notes)

This metadata record is a parent for all data collected during the 2012 Blue whale voyages. Description of specific data sets can be found within child datasets.

This metadata record is a parent for all data collected during the 2013 Antarctic Blue Whale Voyage. Description of specific data sets can be found in the Voyage Science Plan and within child datasets.

During the K-Axis marine voyage from mid Jan-late Feb 2016, a diverse range of sampling techniques were employed to collect specimens and data. Each sampling event was recorded by scientists and technical support staff in a logbook that was kept in the operations room on board the Aurora Australis. This is a PDF of the scanned original document, compiled on paper during the voyage. event_number: A unique event identifier in the log, in the order that the events were written down (usually but not always chronologically) event_type: The code defined and used by each research project to identify the types of equipment deployed or samples collected for an event. event_type_prefix: A non-mandatory prefix field used by some research projects to identify the type of an event event_type_number: A sequential number or alphanumeric-number combination defined and used by each research project to identify unique equipment deployment or sample collection events station_number: A universal (voyage-wide) station number used across all projects to identify a nominal lat/lon position defined during voyage planning leg: A nominally straight-line section of the voyage track defined during voyage planning. The voyage track was planned as a series of roughly N-S and E-W transects that intersected in some locations. Legs start at a station and continue through more stations to a vertex-station which is the start of the next leg. Legs are numbered consecutively. waypoint: A GPS waypoint used by Aurora Australis crew, AAD science technical support and researchers to identify target lat/lon positions in the voyage. Some waypoints correspond with station numbers. start_date_utc: The start date of the event in UTC start_time_utc: The start time of the event in UTC start_lat_deg: The latitude (whole degrees) of the vessel at the beginning of the event start_lat_min: The latitude (minutes) of the vessel at the beginning of the event start_lat_dec_deg: The latitude (decimal degrees) of the vessel at the beginning of the event start_lon_deg: The longitude (whole degrees) of the vessel at the beginning of the event start_lon_min: The longitude (minutes) of the vessel at the beginning of the event start_lon_dec_deg: The longitude (decimal degrees) of the vessel at the beginning of the event end_date_utc: The end date of the event in UTC end_time_utc: The end time of the event in UTC end_lat_deg: The latitude (whole degrees) of the vessel at the end of the event end_lat_min: The latitude (minutes) of the vessel at the end of the event end_lat_dec_deg: The latitude (decimal degrees) of the vessel at the end of the event end_lon_deg: The longitude (whole degrees) of the vessel at the end of the event end_lon_min: The longitude (minutes) of the vessel at the end of the event end_lon_dec_deg: The longitude (decimal degrees) of the vessel at the end of the event remarks: Comments/remarks written by researchers when completing the paper log

During the K-Axis marine voyage from mid Jan-late Feb 2016, a diverse range of sampling techniques were employed to collect specimens and data. Each sampling event was recorded by scientists and technical support staff in a logbook that was kept in the operations room on board the Aurora Australis. This is a direct digital copy/transcription of the paper logbook. event_number: A unique event identifier in the log, in the order that the events were written down (usually but not always chronologically) event_type: The code defined and used by each research project to identify the types of equipment deployed or samples collected for an event. event_type_prefix: A non-mandatory prefix field used by some research projects to identify the type of an event event_type_number: A sequential number or alphanumeric-number combination defined and used by each research project to identify unique equipment deployment or sample collection events station_number: A universal (voyage-wide) station number used across all projects to identify a nominal lat/lon position defined during voyage planning leg: A nominally straight-line section of the voyage track defined during voyage planning. The voyage track was planned as a series of roughly N-S and E-W transects that intersected in some locations. Legs start at a station and continue through more stations to a vertex-station which is the start of the next leg. Legs are numbered consecutively. waypoint: A GPS waypoint used by Aurora Australis crew, AAD science technical support and researchers to identify target lat/lon positions in the voyage. Some waypoints correspond with station numbers. start_date_utc: The start date of the event in UTC start_time_utc: The start time of the event in UTC start_lat_deg: The latitude (whole degrees) of the vessel at the beginning of the event start_lat_min: The latitude (minutes) of the vessel at the beginning of the event start_lat_dec_deg: The latitude (decimal degrees) of the vessel at the beginning of the event start_lon_deg: The longitude (whole degrees) of the vessel at the beginning of the event start_lon_min: The longitude (minutes) of the vessel at the beginning of the event start_lon_dec_deg: The longitude (decimal degrees) of the vessel at the beginning of the event end_date_utc: The end date of the event in UTC end_time_utc: The end time of the event in UTC end_lat_deg: The latitude (whole degrees) of the vessel at the end of the event end_lat_min: The latitude (minutes) of the vessel at the end of the event end_lat_dec_deg: The latitude (decimal degrees) of the vessel at the end of the event end_lon_deg: The longitude (whole degrees) of the vessel at the end of the event end_lon_min: The longitude (minutes) of the vessel at the end of the event end_lon_dec_deg: The longitude (decimal degrees) of the vessel at the end of the event remarks: Comments/remarks written by researchers when completing the paper log transcribe_comments: Comments/remarks made by the transcriber when the log was digitised

The Kerguelen Axis voyage was planned to collect data to enhance the realism of end-to-end ecosystem models being developed in the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre, to investigate the effects of climate change and ocean acidification on Southern Ocean ecosystems in the Indian Sector (particularly in relation to factors affecting the northern distribution of Antarctic krill) and to contribute to assessment of the spatial relationship of mesopelagic mid-trophic level species, in particular zooplanktivores, to foraging strategies by marine mammals and birds on the Kerguelen Plateau. Nine projects were undertaken aboard the Aurora Australis. Each project had individual objectives and outputs, and there are metadata records for each data set collected. They were designed to be complementary in order that the whole data set and project analyses could be used to address the objectives of the Kerguelen Axis program. Observations will be contributed to the Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS) and will facilitate the design of future ecosystem observing in the region.

During the K-Axis marine voyage from mid Jan-late Feb 2016, a diverse range of sampling techniques were employed to collect specimens and data. Each sampling event was recorded by scientists and technical support staff in a logbook that was kept in the operations room on board the Aurora Australis. This is a direct digital transcription of the paper logbook with interpolated lat/lon from underway data to supplement start times as recorded in the log. The method used to obtain the supplementary position is described in the associated eventlog_matchup.html file. event_number: A unique event identifier in the log, in the order that the events were written down (usually but not always chronologically) event_type: The code defined and used by each research project to identify the types of equipment deployed or samples collected for an event. event_type_prefix: A non-mandatory prefix field used by some research projects to identify the type of an event event_type_number: A sequential number or alphanumeric-number combination defined and used by each research project to identify unique equipment deployment or sample collection events station_number: A universal (voyage-wide) station number used across all projects to identify a nominal lat/lon position defined during voyage planning leg: A nominally straight-line section of the voyage track defined during voyage planning. The voyage track was planned as a series of roughly N-S and E-W transects that intersected in some locations. Legs start at a station and continue through more stations to a vertex-station which is the start of the next leg. Legs are numbered consecutively. waypoint: A GPS waypoint used by Aurora Australis crew, AAD science technical support and researchers to identify target lat/lon positions in the voyage. Some waypoints correspond with station numbers. start_date_utc: The start date of the event in UTC start_time_utc: The start time of the event in UTC start_lat_deg: The latitude (whole degrees) of the vessel at the beginning of the event start_lat_min: The latitude (minutes) of the vessel at the beginning of the event start_lat_dec_deg: The latitude (decimal degrees) of the vessel at the beginning of the event start_lon_deg: The longitude (whole degrees) of the vessel at the beginning of the event start_lon_min: The longitude (minutes) of the vessel at the beginning of the event start_lon_dec_deg: The longitude (decimal degrees) of the vessel at the beginning of the event end_date_utc: The end date of the event in UTC end_time_utc: The end time of the event in UTC end_lat_deg: The latitude (whole degrees) of the vessel at the end of the event end_lat_min: The latitude (minutes) of the vessel at the end of the event end_lat_dec_deg: The latitude (decimal degrees) of the vessel at the end of the event end_lon_deg: The longitude (whole degrees) of the vessel at the end of the event end_lon_min: The longitude (minutes) of the vessel at the end of the event end_lon_dec_deg: The longitude (decimal degrees) of the vessel at the end of the event remarks: Comments/remarks written by researchers when completing the paper log transcribe_comments: Comments/remarks made by the transcriber when the log was digitised utc: The start date and time of the event in UTC start_lon_dec_deg_interp: The latitude (decimal degrees) of the vessel at the beginning of the event interpolated from the vessel underway data start_lat_dec_deg_interp: The longitude (decimal degrees) of the vessel at the beginning of the event interpolated from the vessel underway data