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Argos PTT Tracking Database

Entry ID: DB_Argos_PTT_Tracking

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Summary

Abstract: A repository of all ARGOS satellite messages from 1982 to present. Trackers have been used on AWS stations, buoys and numerous species of whales, seals and seabirds.

ARGOS is a means of sending data back from PTT devices - Position Tracking Terminals. However, the subject does not necessarily have to be moving - as in the case of the Automatic Weather Stations (AWS), which use ARGOS for relaying ... meteorological data back to Australia.

Animal species that have been or are currently monitored by the Australian Antarctic Program using the ARGOS system include:

 
 Grey-headed Albatross 
 Black-browed Albatross 
 Light mantled sooty albatross 
 Australian Fur Seal 
 Antarctic Fur Seal 
 Weddell Seal 
 Ross seal 
 Crabeater seal 
 Southern Elephant Seal 
 Emperor Penguin 
 King Penguin 
 Macaroni Penguin 
 Adélie Penguin 
 Pygmy Blue Whale

Locations in which the ARGOS system is/was being used by the Australian Antarctic Program are:

 
 Admiralty Bay 
 Albatross Island 
 Almagro 
 Auster Rookery 
 Béchervaise Island 
 Cape Gantheaume 
 Caroline Cove 
 Casey 
 Davis 
 Diego Ramirez 
 Dumont d'Urville, Base 
 Edmonson Point 
 Ildefonso 
 Inexpressible Island 
 Macquarie Island 
 Magnetic Island 
 Pedra Branca 
 Scullin Monolith 
 Shirley Island 
 Spit Bay 
 Taylor Rookery 
 Ufs Island

Each day, data is retrieved via telnet client from the ARGOS site in France. A batch process parses the data files and inserts into the Data Centre database by 0800 local time. End-users can subscribe to an email describing the recent data uploads.

Web-based tools are provided to filter the data by bounding box, time span and type of message quality. Finally a optional velocity filter can be applied to remove spurious positions that should not be reachable by that particular species. For example, seal data can be filtered for positions that would require speeds in excess of 10 km/hr. The same tool ascribes species, gender, age class and breeding status to each set of data.

A separate control allows the filtered data to be published to the general public and/or to OBIS and GBIF via web services.

Output products include maps, excel spreadsheets and KML files for mapping data on Google Earth.

Related URL

Link: GET DATA

Description: ARGOS Satellite Tracking database

Geographic Coverage

(Click for Interactive Map)

Spatial coordinates

N: -40.0

S: -70.0

E: 179.0

W: -60.0

Temporal Coverage

Start Date: 1982-03-01

Location Keywords

OCEAN > SOUTHERN OCEAN

OCEAN > SOUTHERN OCEAN > MACQUARIE ISLAND

Science Keywords

CRYOSPHERE > SEA ICE > ICE EDGES

CRYOSPHERE > SEA ICE > ICE EXTENT

ISO Topic Category

BIOTA

OCEANS

Instrument

ARGOS > ARGOS Data Collection and Position Location System

Project

OBIS > OCEAN BIOGEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM

IPY > INTERNATIONAL POLAR YEAR

Quality According to ARGOS, the position error can vary from 350 metres (class 3) to about 5km or less for a class 1 hit. Most end-users use speed filter and have a degree of confidence on the majority of the filtered data. Most tracked species are marine and one can use a land-sea mask to remove positions that may appear to be on land for the true marine species. Some of the positions will be for taxa that are breeding or resting in their land colonies but these will be very close to the coast.

Access Constraints Species distribution data is published to SCAR-MarBIN, OBIS and GBIF portals. Historical data from past field campaigns are publicly available. Some more recent data will be made publicly available when the data has been analyzed and published

Use Constraints This data set conforms to the PICCCBY Attribution License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

There are no constraints on the use of this data. Please acknowledge copyright and mention the source site of the Australian Antarctic Data Centre.

Ancillary Keywords

ANTARCTIC MARINE LIVING RESOURCES

ANTARCTICA

Data Set Progress

IN WORK

Originating Center

Data Center

Australian Antarctic Data Centre, Australia

Data Center URL: http://data.aad.gov.au

Data Center Personnel
Name: DATA OFFICER AADC Phone: +61 3 6232 3244 Fax: +61 3 6232 3351 Email: metadata at aad.gov.au Contact Address: Australian Antarctic Division 203 Channel Highway City: Kingston Province or State: Tasmania Postal Code: 7050 Country: Australia

Distribution

Distribution Media: HTTP

Fees: free

Personnel

DAVE CONNELL

Role: DIF AUTHOR

Phone: +61 3 6232 3244

Fax: +61 3 6232 3351

Email: dave.connell at aad.gov.au

Contact Address:

Australian Antarctic Division

203 Channel Highway

City: Kingston

Province or State: Tasmania

Postal Code: 7050

Country: Australia

DAVE JOHN WATTS

Role: INVESTIGATOR

Role: TECHNICAL CONTACT

Phone: +61 3 6232 5062

Email: dave.watts at csiro.au

Contact Address:

CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research

Castray Esplanade

City: Hobart

Province or State: Tasmania

Postal Code: 7000

Country: Australia

JOHN MORRISSY

Role: INVESTIGATOR

Phone: +61 3 6232 3325

Email: john.morrissy at aad.gov.au

Contact Address:

Australian Antarctic Division

203 Channel Highway

City: Kingston

Province or State: Tasmania

Postal Code: 7050

Country: Australia

Creation and Review Dates

DIF Creation Date: 2003-08-08

Last DIF Revision Date: 2008-04-28

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