Echosounder data were collected on a multidisciplinary research voyage conducted from the RV Tangaroa, operated by New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Limited (NIWA). The voyage lasted 42 days, departing from Wellington, New Zealand on January 29th , 2015 and returning to the same port on 11th March 2015. Active acoustic data were obtained continuously using a calibrated scientific echosounder (Simrad EK60, Horten, Norway). The echosounder operated at 38 and 120 kHz for the duration of the voyage with a pulse duration of 1.024 ms, a pulse repetition rate of one ping per second and a 7° beam width. The echosounder data here are a subset of that collected throughout the voyage and include only data from south of 65°S. This subset of data focuses on research questions pertaining to Antarctic blue whales and krill.

This is a parent record for data collected from AAS project 4102. Project 4102 also follows on from ASAC project 2683, "Passive acoustic monitoring of antarctic marine mammals" (see the related metadata record at the provided URL). Public Summary: Half a century ago the Antarctic blue whale was perilously close to extinction. Over 350,000 were killed before the remaining few were fully protected. A decade ago this elusive and poorly understood species was estimated to be less than 5% of its pre-whaling abundance. This multi-national, circumpolar project will develop and apply powerful new techniques to survey these rare whales and gain an insight into their recovery and ecology. The project is the flagship of the Southern Ocean Research Partnership - an International Whaling Commission endorsed collaborative program.

This annotated library contains both a data set and a data product. The data set contains a sub-sample of underwater recordings made around Antarctica from 2005-2017. These recordings were curated and sub-sampled from a variety of national and academic recording campaigns. Recordings were made using a variety of different instruments, and sub-samples span 11 different combinations of site and year. Spatial coverage of the recordings includes sites in the Western Antarctic Peninsula, Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific sectors. Temporal coverage of recordings covers a representative sample throughout each recording year for the years of 2005, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2017. The focus is on low-frequency sounds of blue and fin whales, so curated recordings have been downsampled to sample rates of either 250, 500, 1000 or 2000 Hz. Recordings are all in 16-bit wav format. The file name of each wav file contains a timestamp with the date and time of the start of that file. Recordings are contained in the /wav/ subfolder for each site-year (e.g. Casey2014/wav). The data product is in the form of annotations that describe the times within each WAV file that contain detections of blue and fin whale sounds. Each annotations are stored as a row in a tab-separated text file (with descriptive column headers), and each text file describes a particular type of sound. These annotation text files are formatted as Selection Tables that can be directly imported into the software program Raven Pro 1.5 (Cornell Bioacoustics Laboratory). Full description of the details of the creation and use of this dataset are described in the draft manuscript contained in the documentation folder.

This dataset contains digitized passive acoustic recordings from a hydrophone connected to an autonomous recording device both moored near the sea-floor in the Southern Ocean. Recordings were digitised at a sample rate of 500 Hz and were continuous over the period of operation. The intended purpose of these recordings was to collect baseline data on the acoustic environment (i.e. underwater sound fields). Underwater sounds that were recorded include sounds generated by Antarctic sea ice, marine mammals, and man-made sounds from ships and geo-acoustic surveys. Marine mammal sounds include calls from blue, fin, humpback, and minke whales. The hydrophone was deployed on a mooring on the Kerguelen Plateau.

An R data file containing a hierarchical switching state-space model of pygmy blue whale Argos-collected telemetry data using the bsam package (see Jonsen (2016). Joint estimation over multiple individuals improves behavioural state inference from animal movement data. Scientific Reports 6: 20625.) in R. The model estimated location states for each individual at regular 3-h time intervals, accounting for measurement error in the irregularly observed Argos surface locations; and estimated the behavioural state associated with each location. Satellite tags were deployed on pygmy blue whales located in the Bonney Upwelling region, SA, between 7 January and 16 March 2015. File can be opened in R (A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. URL https://www.R-project.org/ ) using the code: readRDS('bw_3h_ssm.RDS')

This is a local copy of a metadata record and dataset stored at Dryad. This local copy is maintained in order to provide a link to the originating Australian Antarctic program project. See the link to the Dryad site at the provided URL for full details on this data set. Age is a fundamental aspect of animal ecology, but is difficult to determine in many species. Humpback whales exemplify this as they have a lifespan comparable to humans, mature sexually as early as four years and have no reliable visual age indicators after their first year. Current methods for estimating humpback age cannot be applied to all individuals and populations. Assays for human age have recently been developed recently based on age-induced changes in DNA methylation of specific genes. We used information on age-associated DNA methylation in human and mouse genes to identify homologous gene regions in humpbacks. Humpback skin samples were obtained from individuals with a known year of birth and employed to calibrate relationships between cytosine methylation and age. Seven of 37 cytosines assayed for methylation level in humpback skin had significant age-related profiles. The three most age-informative cytosine markers were selected for a humpback epigenetic age assay. The assay has an R2 of 0.787 (p = 3.04e-16) and predicts age from skin samples with a standard deviation of 2.991 years. The epigenetic method correctly determined which of parent-offspring pairs is the parent in more than 93% of cases. To demonstrate the potential of this technique, we constructed the first modern age profile of humpback whales off eastern Australia and compared the results to population structure five decades earlier. This is the first epigenetic age estimation method for a wild animal species and the approach we took for developing it can be applied to many other non model organisms.

This dataset contains acoustic recordings from Directional Frequency Analysis and Recording (DIFAR) sonobuoys that were deployed throughout the 2012 Blue Whale Voyages conducted off Portland, Victoria, Australia from January – March (in the Bonney Upwelling). During the 20 days at sea 131 AN/SSQ-53D sonobuoys were deployed yielding more than 500 hours of acoustic recordings. In January a total team of three dedicated acousticians monitored round-the-clock for blue whales and in all weather conditions. In March the team size was increased so that five acousticians monitored and tracked blue whales round-the-clock. The recording chain for all sonobuoy deployments through 25 March 2012 included a 3-dB communications antenna with a central frequency at 161 MHz and masthead amplifier connected to a passive four way splitter. The highest point of the antenna was approximately 14 m above sea level. The antenna, amplifier, and splitter were connected with low loss cable, and each output of the four way splitter connected to the DIFAR input of a WiNRaDiO 2902i sonobuoy VHF receiver. On 25 March the masthead amplifier failed and was removed from the recording chain. This failure prompted the use of recently acquired WiNRaDiO G39WSBe sonobuoy receivers. The A/D converter used throughout both voyages was a RME Fireface UFX. The voltage outputs of all of the sonobuoy receivers were calibrated as a function of modulation frequency before the voyage, and DIFAR outputs from each of the 2902i and G39WSBe were connected to an instrument input of the UFX. The instrument inputs of the UFX (analog inputs 9-12) have a peak-peak voltage range of 80 V with digitally controlled gain that can be set between 10-65 dB, and this setting was noted in the Sonobuoy Deployment Log (see below) in order to measure received sound-pressure levels accurately. The digitised signals from the UFX were saved as 16-bit WAV files with 48 kHz sample rate using passive acoustic monitoring software Pamguard. Directional calibration The magnetic compass in each sonobuoy was calibrated/validated upon deployment as described by Miller et al. (2015, 2016). Calibration procedure involved measuring the mean bearing error and standard deviation of errors between the GPS-derived bearing from the sonobuoy to the ship and the magnetic bearing to the ship noise detected by the sonobuoy. 15-30 bearings were used for each calibration as the ship steamed directly away from the deployment location. Intensity calibration Obtaining calibrated intensity measurements from sonobuoys not only requires knowledge of the sensitivity of the hydrophone, but also the calibration parameters of the radio transmitter and radio receiver. Throughout the voyage, a hydrophone sensitivity of -122 dB re 1 V/µPa was applied to recordings via the Hydrophone Array Manager in PAMGuard. This value is defined in the DIFAR specification as the reference intensity at 100 Hz that will generate a frequency deviation of 25 kHz (Maranda 2001), thus the specification combines the hydrophone sensitivity and transmitter calibration. In line with manufacturers specifications, the WiNRADiO G39 WSB and 2902i both had a measured voltage response of approximately 1 V-peak–peak (approximately -3 dB) at 25 kHz frequency deviation (Miller et al. 2014), and this can be subtracted from the hydrophone sensitivity to yield an total combined factor of 125 dB re 1 V/µPa. These calibration settings, along with the shaped filter response provided by Greene et al. (2004) make it possible to obtain calibrated pressure amplitude from the recorded WAV audio files. Sonobuoy deployment metadata (Sonobuoy deployment log) This spreadsheet contains metadata on the deployment of sonobuoys deployed during the 2013 Antarctic Blue Whale Voyage. The first row contains column headers, while each subsequent row contains deployment information for a single sonobuoy. Information contained in each column are: buoyID: Buoy ID number is the sequential number of the buoy starting at 1 for the first buoy of the trip. startDate: Date (UTC) at the start of the sonobuoy deployment (YYYY-MM-DD) startTime: Time (UTC) at the start of the sonobuoy deployment (HH:MM:SS) 2 digit hour with 24 hour clock and leading zero. stopDate: Date (UTC) at the end of the sonobuoy deployment (YYYY-MM-DD). While the recording is in progress this should be 1,2 4 or 8 hours after the startTime based on sonobuoy setting. stopTime: Time (UTC) at the end of the sonobuoy deployment (HH:MM:SS). While the recording is in progress this should be 1,2 4 or 8 hours after the startTime based on the sonobuoy setting. lat: Latitude of deployment in decimal degrees. Southern hemisphere latitudes should be negative. long: Longitude of deployment in decimal degrees. Western hemisphere longitudes should be negative. alt: Depth of the sonobuoy deployment in metres. For DIFAR sonobuoys either 30, 120 or 300. recordingChannel: This is the channel number within the recorded wav-file that contains audio from this buoy as would be reported by Matlab. Channel numbers start at 1 (1-indexed) so usually this will be 1, 2 or 3. magVariation: The magnetic variation in degrees. Positive declination is East, negative is West. At the start of a recording this will be entered from a chart. As the recording progresses, this should be updated by measuring the bearing to the vessel. sonobuoyType: The an/ssq designation for the sonobuoy. Usually 53B, 53D, 53F, HIDAR, 57A/B, or 36Q. receiver: The type and serial number of the calibrated radio receiver (WinRadio) used to receive the VHF signal. (wr15725, wr17274, wr15274, or wr15273) preamp: The (unitless) gain in dB of any preamplifier (including the instrument preamp from the Fireface UFX). Usually 10 or 20 dB. adc: The analog-to-digital converter (adc) used to digitize the audio. This is the sound card name and gain. All data were recorded on an RME Fireface UFX, so Ufx10 would be the RME Fireface UFX with a gain of 10 dB. vhfFreq: The VHF channel number used to receive the sonobuoys. Sonobuoys have 99 pre-set VHF channels between Real-time monitoring and analysis (Acoustic event log) During the 2012 Blue Whale Voyages Acousticians noted all whale calls and other acoustic events that were detected during real-time monitoring in a written Sonobuoy Event Log. Additionally, the acoustic tracking software, difarBSM, stored processed bearings from acoustic events and cross bearings in tab delimited text files. Each event was assigned a classification by the acoustician, and events for each classification were stored in separate text files. The first row in each file contains the column headers, and the content of each column is as follows: buoyID: Buoy ID number is the number of the sonobuoy on which this event was detected. This can be used as a foreign key to link to the sonobuoy deployment log. timeStamp_matlabDatenum: Date and time (UTC) at the start of the event represented as a Matlab datenum (i.e. number of days since Jan 0 0000). Latitude: Latitude of the sonobuoy deployment in decimal degrees. Southern hemisphere latitudes should be negative. Longitude: Longitude of sonobuoy deployment in decimal degrees. Western hemisphere longitudes should be negative. Altitude: Depth of the sonobuoy deployment in metres. For DIFAR sonobuoys either 30, 120 or 300. magneticVariation_degrees: The estimated magnetic variation of the sonobuoy in degrees at the time of the event. Positive declination is East, negative is West. At the start of a recording this will be entered from a chart. As the recording progresses, this should be updated by measuring the bearing to the vessel. bearing_degreesMagnetic: Magnetic bearing in degrees from the sonobuoy to the acoustic event. Magnetic bearings were selected by the acoustician by choosing a single point on the bearing-frequency surface (AKA DIFARGram) produced by the analysis software difarBSM. frequency_Hz: The frequency in Hz of the magnetic bearing that the acoustician selected from the bearing-frequency surface (DIFARGram). logDifarPower: The base 10 logarithm of the height of the point on the DIFARGram receiveLevel_dB: This column contains an estimate of the The RMS receive level (dB SPL re 1 micro Pa) of the event. Received levels were estimated by applying a correction for the shaped sonobuoy frequency response, the receiver’s frequency response, and were calculated over only the frequency band specified in each classification (see below). soundType: soundType is the classification assigned to the event by the acoustician. Aural and visual monitoring of audio and spectrograms from each sonobuoy was conducted for each sonobuoy deployment. Detections from marine mammals, and other sources and were detected and classified manually, and their time and frequency bounds were marked on the PAMGuard spectrogram. Parameters for monitoring and recording, were stored within the PAMGuard database and as stand-alone Pamguard Settings Files (PSF). During the voyage there were detections of pygmy blue whale song, and blue whale 'D-call' vocalisations. During the dedicated blue whale voyages the course of the ship was diverted to follow bearings to vocalising blue whales. Whale tracking log (Written Whale Acoustic Tracking Log - Tangaroa 2015.pdf) During the 2012 Blue Whale Voyages, noted all whale calls and other acoustic events that were detected during real-time monitoring in a Sonobuoy Event Log. A written summary of the event log was recorded during data collection at approximately 15 minute intervals, and this summary comprises the Whale Tracking Log. - Tracking Log. - Entries in the written Sonobuoy Tracking Log (on the bench in the acoustics workstation) also include total number of different whales heard in that 15 minute interval. - If multiple whales/groups were detected, then the acoustician on-duty, in consultation with the lead acoustician and/or voyage management designateded one of the whales the 'target' whale, and attempted to encounter this target first. - When targeting a whale/group, the acoustician on-duty continued to track all other whales/groups in the area as these tracked whales/groups may become the next target after obtaining concluding with the current target. Date: (UTC) written only at top of datasheet Time: (UTC) on the hour, 15 past, half past, and 15 to. Track: Unique identifier for each whale/group tracked in the past 15 minutes. Each track will have: Position: Either an average bearing from a sonobuoy (eg 220 degrees from SB18) or a Lat/Lon from the most recent triangulation Notes: What is the vessel action with respect to this tracked whale/group? (eg. Is this the current or previous 'target'? Are we presently photographing this whale? Did we finish photographing the whale?) Has the whale gone silent? Has this track crossed paths with another?

A spreadsheet detailing the filenames of the best left and/or right photos of blue whales photographed and individually identified during the New Zealand Australia Antarctic Ecosystems Voyage 2015. See http://www.marinemammals.gov.au/sorp/antarctic-blue-whale-project for further detail regarding the Antarctic blue whale voyage.

This dataset contains digitized passive acoustic recordings from a hydrophone connected to an autonomous recording device both moored near the sea-floor in the Southern Ocean. Recordings were digitised at a sample rate of 500 Hz and were continuous over the period of operation. The intended purpose of these recordings was to collect baseline data on the acoustic environment (i.e. underwater sound fields). Underwater sounds that were recorded include sounds generated by Antarctic sea ice, marine mammals, and man-made sounds from ships and geo-acoustic surveys. Marine mammal sounds include calls from blue, fin, humpback, and minke whales. The hydrophone was deployed on a mooring on the Kerguelen Plateau in 2006.

During the 2013 Antarctic Blue Whale Voyage Acousticians noted all whale calls and other acoustic events that were detected during real-time monitoring in a Sonobuoy Event Log. The acoustic tracking software, difarBSM, stored processed bearings from acoustic events and cross bearings in tab delimited text files. Each event was assigned a classification by the acoustician, and events for each classification were stored in separate text files. The first row in each file contains the column headers, and the content of each column is as follows: buoyID: Buoy ID number is the number of the sonobuoy on which this event was detected. This can be used as a foreign key to link to the sonobuoy deployment log. timeStamp_matlabDatenum: Date and time (UTC) at the start of the event represented as a Matlab datenum (i.e. number of days since Jan 0 0000). Latitude: Latitude of the sonobuoy deployment in decimal degrees. Southern hemisphere latitudes should be negative. Longitude: Longitude of sonobuoy deployment in decimal degrees. Western hemisphere longitudes should be negative. Altitude: Depth of the sonobuoy deployment in metres. For DIFAR sonobuoys either 30, 120 or 300. magneticVariation_degrees: The estimated magnetic variation of the sonobuoy in degrees at the time of the event. Positive declination is East, negative is West. At the start of a recording this will be entered from a chart. As the recording progresses, this should be updated by measuring the bearing to the vessel. bearing_degreesMagnetic: Magnetic bearing in degrees from the sonobuoy to the acoustic event. Magnetic bearings were selected by the acoustician by choosing a single point on the bearing-frequency surface (AKA DIFARGram) produced by the analysis software difarBSM. frequency_Hz: The frequency in Hz of the magnetic bearing that the acoustician selected from the bearing-frequency surface (DIFARGram). logDifarPower: The base 10 logarithm of the height of the point on the DIFARGram receiveLevel_dB: This column contains an estimate of the The RMS receive level (dB SPL re 1 micro Pa) of the event. Received levels were estimated by applying a correction for the shaped sonobuoy frequency response, the receiver’s frequency response, and were calculated over only the frequency band specified in each classification (see below). soundType: soundType is the classification assigned to the event by the acoustician. Analysis parameters for each classification are included in the csv file classificationParameters.txt. The columns of this file are as follows: outFile: The name of the tab-separated text file that contains events for this classification. analysisType: A super-class describing the broad category of analysis parameters soundType: The name of the classification sampleRate: When events are processed, they are downsampled to this sample rate (in Hz) in order to make directional processing more efficient and precise FFTLength: The duration (in seconds) used for determining the size of the FFT during difar beamforming (i.e. creation of the DIFARGram). numFreqs: Not used during this voyage targetFreq: The midpoint of the frequency axis (in Hz) displayed in the DIFARGram Bandwidth: This describes the half-bandwidth (Hz) of the frequency axis of the DIFARGram. The frequency axis of the DIFARGram starts at targetFreq-bandwidth and ends at targetFreq + bandwidth frequencyBands_1: The lower frequency (Hz) used for determining RMS received level. frequencyBands_2: The upper frequency (Hz) used for determining RMS received level. preDetect: Duration of audio (in seconds) that will be loaded before the start of the event. The processed audio includes the time-bounds of the event marked by the acoustician as well as preDetect seconds before the start of the event. postDetect: Duration of audio (in seconds) that will be loaded after the end of the event. The processed audio includes the time-bounds of the event marked by the acoustician + postDetect seconds.