Cetacean sightings and samples collected by the British Antarctic Survey Wild Water Whales survey of South Georgia waters (including transit legs), January to February 2020
GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/02167
Abstract:
Cetacean sightings in South Georgia waters, made by a rotating team of four professional marine mammal observers on the R/V Braveheart, January and February 2020. The latitude and longitude of each sighting, the identified species, bearing and distance from the vessel, and estimated group size are provided. These data have been used by British Antarctic Survey (BAS) to estimate the risk of ship strikes to humpback whales in South Georgia waters. Biopsy samples collected during the expedition have been used to identify genetic sex and pregnancy status of individual whales, and blow samples were used to identify whale microbiomes.
Funding provided by Darwin PLUS award DPLUS057, South Georgia Heritage Trust and Friends of South Georgia Island.
Citation:
Jackson, J.A., Kennedy, A.S., Collins, M.A., Leaper, R., Calderan, S., Bassoi, M., Olson, P., Buss, D.L., & Baker, S. (2026). Cetacean sightings and samples collected by the British Antarctic Survey Wild Water Whales survey of South Georgia waters (including transit legs), January to February 2020 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/d9215efd-f874-4533-9310-16a6efb4146a
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License
| Access: | None. |
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| Use: | Data are supplied under Open Government Licence v.3 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/. |
Basic Information
| Creation Date: | 2026-03-11 |
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| Dataset Progress: | Complete |
| Dataset Language: | English |
| ISO Topic Categories: |
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| Parameters: |
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Additional Information
| Reference: | Amy S. Kennedy, Russell Leaper, Martin A. Collins, Emma L. Carroll, C. Scott Baker, Manuela Bassoi, Danielle L. Buss, Susannah Calderan, Paul Ensor, Sophie Fielding, Joanna Kershaw, Darryl MacDonald, Paula Olson, Amy Apprill, Ted Cheeseman, Karina Groch, Nat Kelly, Brian S. Miller, Carolyn A. Miller, Michael J. Moore, Victoria J. Rowntree, Philip Trathan, Els Vermeulen, Alexandre N. Zerbini, Jennifer A. Jackson (in review) Summer Occurrence of Cetaceans off South Georgia: Evidence from a Visual and Acoustic Survey around the Island. Kennedy A. S., Carroll E. L., Zerbini A. N., Baker C. S., Bassoi M., Beretta N. A., Buss D. L., Calderan S., Cheeseman T., Collins M. A., et al. (2024). Photo-identification and satellite telemetry connect southern right whales from South Georgia Island (Islas Georgias del Sur) with multiple feeding and calving grounds in the southwest Atlantic. Mar. Mamm. Sci. 40(2). doi: 10.1111/mms.13089 Kennedy, A. S., Carroll, E. L., Baker, C. S., Bassoi, M., Buss, D., Collins, M. A., Calderan, S., Ensor, P., Fielding, S., Leaper, R., MacDonald, D., Olson, P., Cheeseman, T., Groch, K. R., Hall, A., Kelly, N., Miller, B. S., Moore, M., Rowntree, V., Stowasser, G., Trathan, P., Valenzuela, L. O., Vermeulen, E., Zerbini, A. N., & Jackson, J. A. (2020). Whales return to the epicentre of whaling? Preliminary results from the 2020 cetacean survey at South Georgia (Islas Georgias del Sur) Paper SC/68b/CMP22 presented to the IWC Scientific Committee, May 2020 (unpublished). 28pp. [Available from www.iwc.int] Leaper, R., Bassoi, M., Buss, D., Calderan, S., Carroll, E., Collins, M., Ensor, P., Kennedy, A., Olson, P., & Jackson, J. A. (2021). Ship strike risk to whales around South Georgia (Islas Georgias del Sur) Paper SC/68c/HIM09 presented to the IWC Scientific Committee, April 2021 (unpublished). 18pp. [Available from www.iwc.int], |
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| Quality: | Data collection and QC are detailed in "BAS Cruise plan SG whales 2020" and Kennedy et al. 2020. Where species identification was unclear, sightings were described as "unidentified whale" or similar. | |
| Lineage/Methodology: | Sightings data on the RV Braveheart were collated in the LOGGER database, using standard cetacean sighting survey protocols as detailed in the associated document "BAS Cruise plan SG whales 2020", IWC report Kennedy et al. 2020 and publication Kennedy et al. (in review) associated with these data. | |
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Extent
| Temporal Coverage: | |
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| Start Date | 2020-01-06 |
| End Date | 2020-02-08 |
| Spatial Coverage: | |
| Latitude | |
| Southernmost | -55.2 |
| Northernmost | -53.2 |
| Longitude | |
| Westernmost | -43.6 |
| Easternmost | -34.7 |
| Altitude | |
| Min Altitude | N/A |
| Max Altitude | N/A |
| Depth | |
| Min Depth | N/A |
| Max Depth | N/A |
| Location: | |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Shag Rocks |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | South Georgia |
Instrumentation
| Data Collection: | Sighting data were collated using LOGGER software version 2010. Observers used 7x50 binoculars and measured sighting distance using reticles, or the naked eye. |
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Storage
| Data Storage: | There are four files (total 8.6 MB) Braveheart_cetacean_sightings_SG.csv summarises all sightings reported by species (where identified), distance and bearing from vessel and best estimate of group size. Braveheart_cetacean_effort_positions_obs.csv summarises each period of observer survey effort, identifying the observers on watch, and environmental conditions during the survey period. BAS Cruise plan SG whales 2020.pdf provides details of the survey methodology. Braveheart_sample_metadata.csv provides a summary of biopsy and blow samples collected from and satellite tags deployed on each individual whale, associated to the sighting numbers given in Braveheart_cetacean_sightings.csv, showing outcomes in terms of genetic sex and pregnancy status. |
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