Specializes in the tracking of large whales by satellite

To date WTG tagged a total of 547 whales from 11 different species.

Whale Telemetry Group

Tags are implantable and can generally last from 3 mo – 1 yr+

Argos acquired locations

Accuracy depends on the number of received transmissions per satellite pass; ranges from 250 m - 10 km+

Typically get 1 – 2 locations/d or every other day depending on tag programming

SST

Chlorophyll-a

SST Gradient

Chlor Gradient

Bathymetry

Mixed effects regression, GAM, etc.

Pathfinder v. 5

SEA WIFS

Etnoyer et al 2004

SST & ChlorDerived Products:

Fronts, ekman pumping, ???

Sea ice migratory key?Very near-shore habitat

Blue WhalesGray Whales Sperm Whales

Deep DiversSSH, SST?

How to infer deep in the water column and up the

food chain?

8 d GOES SST composite (Aug 8, 2004) off western US overlaid with a blue whale track.