Cetacean sightings in January and February 2019 near to Cumberland Bay, South Georgia

This dataset summarises cetacean sightings made during January and February 2019 by an experienced team of cetacean researchers doing regular small-scale surveys in coastal waters close to Cumberland Bay, South Georgia. Some surveys were just within Cumberland Bay, and others include locations to the west and east of Cumberland Bay, as far as Stromness Bay (west) and St Andrews Bay (east). The dataset includes survey tracks, survey effort periods, species sighted and numbers of animals encountered. Over the survey period, Cumberland Bay alone was surveyed six times. Cumberland Bay plus adjoining waters were surveyed nine times, a total of 25:12 hr of search effort for all surveys. Nine expeditions were carried out in January (13:39 hr effort, with whales sighted on six surveys) and six in February (11:33 hr effort, with whales sighted on three surveys). A total of 43 whales (41 humpback whales) were observed during 26 sighting events, nine of which were within Cumberland Bay; a further 10 humpback whales were sighted at the entrance to the Bay (Right Whale Rocks), making a total of 19 humpback whale sightings within or at the entrance to Cumberland Bay.

EU BEST 2.0 Medium Grant 1594, DARWIN PLUS award DPLUS057 and funding from the South Georgia Heritage Trust and Friends of South Georgia Island.

Alternate title: Polar Data Centre (PDC) record GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/01747

Date (Publication): 2023-06-12

Citation identifier: http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/dms/metadata.php?id= / GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/01747

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	Jackson, J., Kennedy, A., Bamford, C., Martin, S., MacDonald, D., & Carroll, E.	pdc@bas.ac.uk	Originator

Maintenance and update frequency: Unknown

Keywords

NDGO0001

NERC OAI Harvesting

NERC_DDC

GCMD Parameter Valids

EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Ecological Dynamics
EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Marine Biology > Marine Mammals
EARTH SCIENCE > Oceans > Marine Environment Monitoring

BAS Free-text keywords

Humpback whale
South Georgia
cetacean
survey
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: 2019-01-05

End date: 2019-02-24

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	https://ramadda.data.bas.ac.uk/repository/entry/show?entryid=33204189-2ecb-4f6b-b3e2-e1b7bc4339db	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: GPS locations relating to survey effort and sightings were reviewed. Where discrepancies were found, GPS locations were taken rather than sighting location (since sightings were manually recorded). On two occasions, there were issues with GPS tracking of survey, and the survey track was not recorded. These occasions are noted in the metadata.