Abstract:

This dataset contains echolocation click detection event times for seven species or genera of marine mammals (sperm whale, Cuvier’s beaked whale, Gervais’ beaked whale, pilot whale, Risso’s dolphin, Stenellid dolphins, and Kogia spp.) recorded at five sites in the Gulf of Mexico between 2010-10-21 and 2017-05-17. Counts are presented in XML schema employed by the Tethys database.

Suggested Citation:

Hildebrand, John A., Kaitlin E. Frasier, and Sean M. Wiggins. 2021. Gulf of Mexico toothed whale passive acoustic detections, 2010-10-21 to 2017-05-17. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/n7-r2jy-s126

Purpose:

Echolocation click events for seven species or genera of toothed whales recorded in the Gulf of Mexico between 2010 and 2017.

Data Parameters and Units:

Count information: Data is formatted according to XML schema associated with Tethys software. Tethys is a freely-available open-source temporal-spatial database for used for standardized data storage by the passive acoustics community. https://tethys.sdsu.edu/. Species IDs are ITIS (Interagency Taxonomic Information System) taxonomic numbers (eg, 180457: https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=180457#null). Site information (deployment_info spreadsheet): site [AA}, deployment [enum], latitude [decimal degrees N], longitude [decimal degrees W], depth [m], start date [MM/DD/YYYY], end date [MM/DD/YYYY], recording duration [days].

Methods:

This dataset contains numbers of echolocation clicks detected in 5-minute time segments of passive acoustic recordings collected at five long term monitoring locations in the Gulf of Mexico from 2010-2017 using High-frequency Acoustic Recording Packages (HARPs). While deployed, HARPs recorded continuously at 200 kHz. Impulsive click-like signals with received levels >=120dB peak-to-peak re:1uPa were detected in the acoustic recordings using an energy detector. Removal of false-positive detections and classification of true detections to species was conducted through a combination of automated classification algorithms and manual review/verification by expert analysts. Species identified include Cuvier's beaked whale, Gervais' beaked whale, Kogia sp., pilot whale, Risso's dolphin, and Stenella dolphins.

Instruments:

High-frequency Acoustic Recording Packages (HARPs)

Individual Files: