An opportunistic Marine Mammal survey between Harwich, UK and Rothera Research Station, Antarctica

An opportunistic marine mammal survey through the Atlantic Ocean between the UK and Antarctica was undertaken in November and December 2020. The RRS James Clark Ross, was used to transfer cargo and personnel for the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) from the UK to Rothera Research Station, Antarctica for the start of the 2020/2021 summer season. The transit and station relief included stops at King Edward Point and Bird Island, South Georgia, Falkland Islands and Signy Research Station, South Orkney Islands. The journey took a total of 48 days. Two JNCC marine mammal observers were on-board as well as other dedicated observers. Marine mammal observations were made as opportunistic sightings and recorded along with geographical position and other metadata. This transit and subsequent survey was unique in its passage as few vessels journey down the centre of the North and South Atlantic and continue on down the Western Antarctic Peninsula. British Antarctic Survey will continue to make this journey twice a year and it could provide a platform for an annual marine mammal survey of the entire Atlantic Ocean.

Alternate title: Polar Data Centre (PDC) record GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/01587

Date (Publication): 2021-12-13

Citation identifier: http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/dms/metadata.php?id= / GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/01587

Point of contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
British Antarctic Survey		pdc@bas.ac.uk	Custodian
NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre	Mathews, R., & Frontier, N.	pdc@bas.ac.uk	Originator

Maintenance and update frequency: Unknown

Keywords

NDGO0001

NERC OAI Harvesting

NERC_DDC

GCMD Parameter Valids

EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Marine Biology > Marine Mammals
EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Marine Environment Monitoring

BAS Free-text keywords

Atlantic
Dolphin
Marine Mammal
Southern Ocean
Whale

Use limitation: Data released under Open Government Licence V3.0: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/.

Access constraints: Other restrictions

Other constraints: Data released under Open Government Licence V3.0: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/.

Language: English

Topic category

Biota
Environment
Oceans

Begin date: 2020-11-05

End date: 2020-12-23

Reference system identifier: OGP / urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::4326

Distribution format

Distributor contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
Polar Data Centre - British Antarctic Survey		pdc@bas.ac.uk	Distributor

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
http		GET DATA

Hierarchy level: Dataset

Domain consistency

Measure identification: INSPIRE / Conformity_001

Conformance result

Title: INSPIRE Data Specification on unknown theme Guidelines

Date

Explanation: See the referenced specification

Pass: No

Statement: An effort was made to record all sightings immediately by any observer informing the dedicated surveyors/data recorders when marine mammals were sighted. However, some sightings were reported later in the evening. The position of sightings was therefore calculated by ships track and time of sighting. Behaviour, distance and bearing was often not reported or trusted and therefore the data recorders did not include this information into the database for those sightings. Species ID was only decided by the experienced marine mammal surveyors at time of sighting and those who were frequently surveying and had undergone species ID training while on-board. Photographic images also allowed for species ID.