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Burkhardt, Elke (2026): Whale sightings during POLARSTERN cruise ANT-XXIX/6 (PS81) [dataset]. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.992897

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Published: 2026-03-13 • DOI registered: 2026-04-11

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Abstract:
Data on whale distribution and abundance in the polar oceans is rather sparse, as implementing the standard surveying method, line-transect surveys, is challenging and costly. To overcome this problem, we initiated a program to electronically log all opportunistic cetacean sightings during all Polarstern expeditions through the nautical officer on watch. Opportunistic (visual) sightings by naked eye were logged during Polarstern Cruise ANT-XXIX/6 (Cape Town – Punta Arenas) by the nautical officer on duty using a customized Software package (WALOG, WhAleLOGger) installed on a touch screen laptop located on the ship's bridge. Species were identified by naked eye or handheld binoculars (7x50) to the lowest possible taxonomical level and assigned a "certainty" level of identification. The number of animals were counted if possible or estimated for larger groups. Whenever identification to species level was not possible, the next identifiable taxonomical category was assigned. Information on sighting position, date and time are automatically transferred from the ship's DAVIS-Ship System (https://dship.awi.de/) to the WALOG software at the time of logging. Photographs were taken, if possible, for retrospective analysis. All data of acquired sightings were retrospectively validated by a marine biologist and converted to a standard format. To this end, plausibility of sighting time, location, standardization of species names, eventual comments added at the time of sighting, as well as additional information such as photographs (if available) were checked either to verify or improve species identification. Datasets are used in species distribution modelling and to inform interested parties about occurrences.
Keyword(s):
Cetacean sightings; WALOG
Documentation:
Information for MAPS whale sighting data (2018-12-18). hdl:10013/epic.24d813e7-0158-4fc3-bc99-0f4ebb6beecc
Project(s):
Marine Mammal Perimeter Surveillance from RV Polarstern (MAPS)
Coverage:
Median Latitude: -64.535183 * Median Longitude: -19.752593 * South-bound Latitude: -68.030680 * West-bound Longitude: -55.699750 * North-bound Latitude: -56.756780 * East-bound Longitude: 0.016720
Date/Time Start: 2013-06-15T09:46:53 * Date/Time End: 2013-08-11T19:17:48
Event(s):
PS81/6-track * Latitude Start: -33.911860 * Longitude Start: 18.434600 * Latitude End: -53.144700 * Longitude End: -70.909100 * Date/Time Start: 2013-06-08T00:00:00 * Date/Time End: 2013-08-12T00:00:00 * Location: Weddell Sea * Campaign: ANT-XXIX/6 (PS81 AWECS) * Basis: Polarstern * Method/Device: Underway cruise track measurements (CT)
Comment:
Date/Time is given in UTC. Certainty of identification: definite if observer clearly identified the species. The number of individuals is binned according to the options given in the data acquisition software: 1, 2, 3, less equal 5, less equal 10, greater than 10, greater than 20. More precise values may exist, due to observer comments.
Parameter(s):
#NameShort NameUnitPrincipal InvestigatorMethod/DeviceComment
1 DATE/TIMEDate/TimeBurkhardt, ElkeGeocode
2 LATITUDELatitudeBurkhardt, ElkeGeocode
3 LONGITUDELongitudeBurkhardt, ElkeGeocode
4 Whale speciesWhaleBurkhardt, ElkeVisual inspection
5 Certainty of identificationCertaintyBurkhardt, Elke
6 IndividualsInd#Burkhardt, ElkeVisual inspection
License:
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY-4.0)
Status:
Curation Level: Enhanced curation (CurationLevelC)
Size:
249 data points

Data

Download dataset as tab-delimited text — use the following character encoding:

1 
Date/Time		2 
Latitude		3 
Longitude		4 
Whale		5 
Certainty		6 
Ind [#]
2013-06-15T09:46:53-56.75678-0.00005Whale, unidentifieddefinite1
2013-06-15T10:00:54-56.79903-0.00028Megaptera novaeangliaedefinite4
2013-06-15T10:16:18-56.84590-0.00035Megaptera novaeangliaedefinite2
2013-06-15T10:21:10-56.860700.00003Megaptera novaeangliaedefinite2
2013-06-15T10:54:50-56.963380.00012Megaptera novaeangliaeprobable1
2013-06-15T11:20:58-57.001070.00102Megaptera novaeangliaedefinite5
2013-06-15T14:02:10-57.004080.00380Megaptera novaeangliaedefinite2
2013-06-15T14:38:15-57.004280.00587Megaptera novaeangliaedefinite3
2013-06-19T00:58:57-63.504300.01672Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-06-19T11:12:21-63.91687-0.02615Whale, unidentifieddefinite1
2013-07-02T11:18:57-67.95903-6.89280Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-02T11:47:07-67.96808-6.88380Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite3
2013-07-02T13:21:46-68.00625-6.75715Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite2
2013-07-02T13:26:55-68.01368-6.73643Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite2
2013-07-02T14:26:45-68.03025-6.67617Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-02T15:50:34-68.03068-6.67275Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-02T20:48:05-68.01103-6.67330Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-02T22:54:56-68.00065-6.67148Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisprobable1
2013-07-02T23:06:30-67.99975-6.67132Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite2
2013-07-03T01:14:28-67.99018-6.66808Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-03T10:00:36-67.96202-6.65465Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisprobable1
2013-07-03T10:39:18-67.96017-6.65503Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-03T14:00:20-67.95343-6.66015Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite2
2013-07-03T20:23:20-67.94408-6.65342Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-04T01:00:00-67.93523-6.67762Balaenoptera physalusdefinite1
2013-07-05T02:41:08-67.89507-6.78960Balaenoptera physalusdefinite1
2013-07-05T07:43:41-67.89507-6.78960Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-05T09:22:08-67.87952-6.83737Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-05T13:47:18-67.86960-6.84718Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-05T14:36:55-67.84185-6.90172Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisprobable1
2013-07-05T18:29:18-67.83810-6.91798Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite2
2013-07-06T11:02:05-67.82510-6.98692Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisprobable1
2013-07-07T14:26:03-67.61943-8.21888Whale, unidentifieddefinite1
2013-07-07T14:41:37-67.21288-9.93152Whale, unidentifieddefinite2
2013-07-07T20:25:20-67.21312-9.98180Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-08T10:37:18-67.20190-10.01315Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-08T10:44:59-67.16458-13.17160Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-09T01:52:02-67.16022-13.21277Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-09T02:09:51-67.20138-13.27093Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-09T12:02:18-67.20192-13.27118Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite2
2013-07-09T14:51:42-67.21328-14.81395Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-14T07:45:33-67.22288-15.62568Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite2
2013-07-16T11:26:23-67.17325-23.20643Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-16T11:32:54-66.77902-26.16040Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-16T15:19:19-66.76432-26.18547Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite3
2013-07-16T16:57:38-66.64643-26.43278Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite4
2013-07-16T17:07:23-66.64052-26.68970Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite2
2013-07-16T17:18:19-66.63882-26.74502Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite2
2013-07-16T17:26:10-66.63753-26.81043Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite4
2013-07-16T17:38:13-66.64533-26.84905Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite5
2013-07-17T07:33:04-66.66733-26.87448Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-17T10:55:20-66.45760-26.77980Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-17T11:04:58-66.25972-26.87263Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-17T11:40:41-66.24198-26.89290Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-17T11:48:34-66.24115-26.94267Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-17T19:10:54-66.24008-26.95800Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-18T11:22:58-65.96483-27.28255Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-20T12:20:22-64.51070-29.64588Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-20T12:36:11-61.76030-34.96883Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite3
2013-07-20T12:38:30-61.76510-35.02015Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-20T12:56:14-61.76248-35.03037Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite>10
2013-07-20T13:15:41-61.74670-35.12235Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-20T13:16:51-61.73383-35.21000Balaenoptera physalusdefinite4
2013-07-20T13:26:02-61.73265-35.21623Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite2
2013-07-20T13:27:55-61.73235-35.26560Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite2
2013-07-20T13:36:00-61.73197-35.27510Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-20T14:30:23-61.73125-35.31633Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-20T14:43:07-61.69813-35.60410Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-20T15:07:42-61.69710-35.68292Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-20T15:18:22-61.68520-35.81073Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-20T15:36:50-61.67387-35.87155Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-20T18:19:56-61.67275-35.97062Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite2
2013-07-20T18:38:40-61.64427-36.96655Whale, unidentifieddefinite1
2013-07-20T18:40:27-61.62673-37.10210Whale, unidentifieddefinite1
2013-07-20T18:45:28-61.62402-37.11032Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite3
2013-07-20T18:46:33-61.61912-37.14472Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite2
2013-07-20T18:48:05-61.61710-37.15293Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite2
2013-07-20T18:49:22-61.61603-37.16528Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-20T19:17:38-61.61495-37.17345Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisprobable1
2013-07-21T17:52:27-61.57713-37.36807Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite4
2013-07-24T01:15:52-61.15527-42.58003Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-07-30T08:16:06-62.28625-55.69975Balaenoptera aff. bonaerensisdefinite1
2013-08-11T19:17:48-63.53023-51.12368Cephalorhynchus commersoniiprobable3