67735 Eastern Bering Sea Beluga Whale Aerial Surveys Data Set Published / External 23107 Cetacean Assessment and Ecology Program Project Completed 2022 In 1992-95 and 1999-2000, the U.S. Government provided funds for the Alaska Beluga Whale Committee (ABWC) to conduct studies of belugas in Alaska. Part of the ABWC research program consisted of aerial surveys of western Alaska beluga stocks, including the Eastern Bering Sea (EBS) stock. In 1992, several aerial surveys were conducted during three periods: 27-29 May, 17-21 June, and 18-22 September to assess the distribution of belugas during those periods. The surveys found relatively few belugas in May and September, but a large number of belugas in June. Based on those results, surveys in subsequent years were conducted only in June: 14-18 June 1993, 11-16 June 1994, 5-8 and 20-22 June 1995, 15-17 June 1999, and 17-20 June 2000. This dataset contains aerial survey data from the surveys described above. Prior to 1992, there was little information on the distribution of EBS belugas beyond the knowledge of the traditional Alaska Native hunting areas, and places where belugas were seen on an opportunistic basis. There had been no systematic surveys of belugas in the Norton Sound/Yukon Delta region, and there were no reliable estimates of historical population size. It was known that belugas occurred throughout the coastal zone of the northeastern Bering Sea, particularly from the mouth of the Yukon River to northern Norton Sound near Nome, and few were seen far from the shoreline. Belugas were seen predominantly during ice-free months, which was usually mid-May after the breakup of sea ice until freezeup in November. The goals of the ABWC research programs aerial surveys were to estimate the abundance and trends of the EBS stock of belugas and to compare those results with previous beluga information for this area. Funding was provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration grants NA27FX0258-01, NA37FX0267, NA47FX0498 and NA57FX0368 to the Alaska Beluga Whale Committee. Theme ISO 19115 Topic Category biota Theme ISO 19115 Topic Category oceans Theme Alaska Theme Beluga whale Theme Bristol Bay Theme Delphinapterus leucas Theme abundance Theme aerial Theme cetacean Theme distribution Theme habitat Theme line transect survey Theme marine mammal Theme strip transect survey Temporal Summer Spatial Norton Sound National Marine Mammal Laboratory Data Set None Planned Table (digital) The user is responsible for the results of any application of this data for other than its intended purpose. NOAA denies liability if the data are misused. 68017 Published / External Spreadsheet This dataset contains beluga whale Norton Sound aerial survey data from 1992-95 and 1999-2000. 1 RECORDTYPE VARCHAR No No Active Indicates the type of data collected. Data types include: auto entries, sightings by left or right and primary or non-primary observers, beginning or end of transect, weather updates, altitude, comments, and crew. 1 = beluga sighting made by the left primary observer. 2 = beluga sighting made a non-primary observer. Used in 1993. 3 = beluga sighting made by the right primary observer. 4 = beluga sighting made by a non-primary observer. Used in 1999 and 2000. 5 = beginning of transect effort. 5 and I mark the beginning of transect effort and always occur together. 6 = end of transect effort. 7 = update to one of the weather fields (cloud cover, sea state, glare, quality). 8 = altitude entry. 9 = record where notes were entered into the comments field. C = record where the initials of the survey team (crew) were entered into the comments field. I = Indicates the beginning of transect effort. 5 and I mark the beginning of transect effort and always occur together. 2 RECORDNUM Number No No Active Unique whole number per survey season, beginning with 1 and numbering sequentially throughout each period of surveys. In 1992, each month of surveys: May, June, and September, start at the number 1. 1993, 1994, and 1999 start at 1 and run for the entire season each year. In 1995, each period of June surveys: June 5-8 and June 20-22 start at the number 1. In 2000, data were originally in separate left and right observer files; RECORDNUM starts at 1 for each left and right file and each runs sequentially through the season. When there are reasons that the TIME field cannot be used to sort records oldest to newest (see TIME Attribute below), RECORDNUM can be used to sort events in the order that they were recorded during the survey within each survey period as outlined above. 3 DATE Date No No Active Date of survey flight. 4 TIME Time No No Active Time that entry was logged in data. Some entries in 1992 and 1993 are blank, so TIME cannot be used to sort data sequentially. To sort data sequentially for these years, sort by RECORDNUM (see RECORDNUM Attribute for details). 5 LATITUDE Number No No Active Latitude of aircraft in degrees decimal minutes. 6 LONGITUDE Number No No Active Longitude of aircraft in degrees decimal minutes. 7 STUDY AREA VARCHAR No No Active The study area where survey effort was conducted. This field was added in June 2022 because although these surveys were generally for belugas in Norton Sound, the survey conducted on 5 June 1995 also included survey effort in Bristol Bay and up the coast to Norton Sound. 8 ALTITUDE Number No No Active Altitude of aircraft in feet above sea level. Not collected in 1992 or 1993. 9 SPEED Number No No Active Airspeed in knots. Not recorded in 1992, 1993. 10 SOBSNUM Number No No Active Unique number assigned to each observer sighting per flight; numbers were assigned in sequential order as sightings were recorded per flight. Not recorded in 1992 or 1993. This field was used for record keeping during the surveys and edited post-flight by the survey team. This field should not be used for sorting or analyzing data. 11 SGROUPSIZ Number No No Active Total number of belugas counted in the sighting group. An entry of “0” indicates the record is not a sighting record. 12 SANGLE Number No No Active Zone that a sighting was located in. Offshore transects on each side of the aircraft were divided into seven zones; each whale sighting was recorded in one of the zones. Inclinometers were used to delineate the inner and outer bounds of transects (14-51 deg) and zones (where 0 deg would be directly underneath the plane and 90 deg would be the horizon). Zones were recorded for primary (RECORDTYPE 1 and 3) and some non-primary (RECORDTYPE 2 and 4) records. Not used in 1992. 0 = less than 14 deg 1 = 14 to 21 deg 2 = 21 to 27 deg 3 = 27 to 33 deg 4 = 33 to 40 deg 5 = 40 to 45 deg 6 = 45 to 51 deg 13 SALTITUDE Number No No Active Altitude of aircraft in feet above sea level. Not collected in 1992 or 1993. 14 SSPECIES VARCHAR No No Active Initials of the sighted species scientific name. DL = beluga whale OR = walrus 15 SOBSERVER VARCHAR No No Active Initials of the observer who first observed a sighting. Not recorded in 1992 or 1993. The International Whaling Commission report, Lowry, L.F., D.P. DeMaster, K.J. Frost. 1999. Alaska Beluga Whale Committee surveys of beluga whales in the Eastern Bering Sea, 1992-1995. Rep. Int. Whal. Commn. SC/51/SM34.€ documents that primary observers during May 1992 surveys were Kathy Frost and Lloyd Lowry, (Frost reported in June 2022 that she was the right observer and Lowry was the left observer); primary observers during June and September 1992 were Lloyd Lowry and Robert Nelson; and primary observers during June 1993 were Kathy Frost and Robert Nelson. AB = unknown D or DD = Doug DeMaster DB = Debbie Blaesing L or LL = Lloyd Lowry N or RN = Robert Nelson RA = Robyn Angliss SM = Sue Moore In 1995, Debbie Blaesing was the left primary observer with RECORDTYPE 1 and Lloyd Lowry was the right primary observer with RECORDTYPE 3; however there are two records with SOBSERVER Lowry as RECORDTYPE 1, which would be a left sighting. It is likely this is a data entry mistake, though it is unknown whether SOBSERVER should have been Blaesing, or whether RECORDTYPE should have been 3. In 2000, Robyn Angliss is a primary observer, RECORDTYPE 3; however, there is one sighting by Angliss that is recorded as RECORDTYPE 4, which indicates a non-primary observer sighting. The angle zone is a 3, which means the sighting fell within the range that observers were allowed to record sightings. It is likely this is a data entry mistake, though it is unknown whether a non-primary observer should have been entered into SOBSERVER or whether RECORDTYPE should have been 3. 16 WCLOUD Number No No Active Percentage of cloud cover within the survey area. One value was recorded that included cloud cover on both sides of the aircraft. Not recorded in 1992 or 1993. Entries of “O” and “OO” were also recorded. It is unclear what these mean; it is likely they are data recording mistakes. 17 WBEAUSTAT Number No No Active Observed sea state using the Beaufort Wind Force classification system. Not recorded in 1992. 18 WGLAREL Number No No Active Sun reflection on the water, obstructing at least some of the left observers field of view. Not recorded in 1992 or 1993. 19 WGLAREC Number No No Active Sun reflection on the water, obstructing at least some of the center observers field of view. Recorded in 1995. 20 WGLARER VARCHAR No No Active Sun reflection on the water, obstructing at least some of the right observers field of view. Not recorded in 1992 or 1993. 0, N, and E = No glare obstructing the observer's field of view; 1 and G = Little or no glare obstructing the observer's field of view; 2 = Some glare obstructing the observer's field of view; 3 = Bad glare obstructing the observer's field of view; Y = Glare obstructing the observer's field of view. 21 WQUALL VARCHAR No No Active Quality of sighting conditions for left observer. Not recorded in 1993. E=excellent, G=good, F=Fair, P=poor. Entries of 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 were also recorded. The definition of these values are unknown. 22 WQUALC VARCHAR No No Active Quality of sighting conditions for center observer. Not recorded in 1993. E=excellent, G=good, F=Fair, P=poor. Entries of 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 were also recorded. The definition of these values are unknown. 23 WQUALR VARCHAR No No Active Quality of sighting conditions for right observer. Not recorded in 1993. E = excellent, G = good, F = Fair, P = poor. Entries of 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 were also recorded. The definition of these values are unknown. 24 ITRANS VARCHAR No No Active Number or letter used to identify a transect line. Transect numbers and their locations vary each year. 25 ICOMMENT VARCHAR No No Active Additional comments that were recorded. Windspeed came from the aircraft navigation system. Ice coverage (%), when present, was reported by observers and any changes were recorded. 26 NUMDATE Number No No Active Date of the survey flight in this format: YYYYMMDD, e.g., 19920527. Data Steward 2022 Person Ferguson, Megan megan.ferguson@noaa.gov Distributor 2022 Organization NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information NCEI ncei.info@noaa.gov https://ror.org/04r0wrp59 https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/contact NCEI Contact Information Information for contacts at NCEI. Online Resource Metadata Contact 2022 Person Waite, Janice janice.waite@noaa.gov 7600 Sand Point Way, NE Seattle WA 98115-6349 206-526-6554 Point of Contact 2022 Person Angliss, Robyn robyn.angliss@noaa.gov 7600 Sand Point Way, NE Seattle WA 98115-6349 206-526-4032 206-526-6615 -166.3412 -156.6493 66.367 58.382 Norton Sound and Bristol Bay Range 1992 2000 1992-1995, 1999-2000 Unclassified Data is available at https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0276222/data/0-data There are no legal restrictions on access to the data. They reside in public domain and can be freely distributed. Users must read and fully comprehend the metadata prior to use. Applications or inferences derived from the data should be carefully considered for accuracy. These data undergo periodic updates as new data become available or existing data are edited for accuracy and consistency. To ensure that users have the most current version and to prevent duplication of, and encourage more efficient coordination with, any ongoing analyses, please contact Dr Megan Ferguson (megan.ferguson@noaa.gov) if there is an intention to use these data in a scientific report, whether published or not. Credit should always be given for any use of these data; please ask Dr Ferguson for the appropriate credits relative to the intended use. These data should be acquired from either National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) or MML and not through other sources that might not have the most recent version. 2022 Organization NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information https://ror.org/04r0wrp59 EBS beluga aerial survey data_1992-2000.xlsx Aerial survey data for beluga Aerial Surveys in Norton Sound XLS, Microsoft Excel worksheet XLS - Microsoft Excel https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/archive/accession/0276222 Data archival website Online Resource NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information data archival site https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322028570_Development_of_an_abundance_estimate_for_the_eastern_Bering_Sea_stock_of_beluga_1_whales_Delphinapterus_leucas Development of an abundance estimate for the eastern Bering Sea stock of beluga1 whales (Delphinapterus leucas) Online Resource Publication describing the aerial surveys Excel Spreadsheet Accuracy issues are included in relevant attribute section. Metadata for these data were not compiled at the time of the surveys, and the data existed in various forms in multiple locations. In 2022, an effort was made to pull all the data together, standardize attribute values, minimize inconsistencies, and/or correct errors, and create metadata to improve the database for future analyses. Most of the people who worked on the project and analyzed the data were either retired or deceased by 2022; for this reason, some of the values in the data fields remain undefined. For more information about this review and details of the edits that were made to the data, see contact the data steward about the EBS Beluga 1992-2000_Final files, data review, & edits document. There were survey flights flown for this survey, for which survey data do not exist. The International Whaling Commission report, Lowry, L.F., D.P. DeMaster, K.J. Frost. 1999. Alaska Beluga Whale Committee surveys of beluga whales in the Eastern Bering Sea, 1992-1995. Rep. Int. Whal. Commn. SC/51/SM34, gives detail that a survey flight was flown on 29 May 1992; however, survey data for that day are missing. Table 1 of Lowry et al. (1999) indicates that no belugas were sighted on that day. The document, NSsurveysJune95.DOC details that a flight was also flown on 9 June 1995, but there are no data for this flight. The report indicates the flight was all fog and there was no survey effort: Took off from Nome in the fog and flew about 30 miles to the south on top. The whole Sound was covered with a layer of fog about 1000 feet thick. Returned to Nome then to Fairbanks. Lowry et al. 1999 indicates that fog prevented surveys on 21 June 1995, and there are no data for this day. However, NSsurveysJune95.DOC details that there was a flight, but survey effort was not possible: Took off from Nome in the fog and flew 20 miles to the south on top. The whole Sound was covered with a layer of fog. Returned to Nome. No Unknown Yes No Unknown NCEI-MD Unknown IT Security and Contingency Plan for the system establishes procedures and applies to the functions, operations, and resources necessary to recover and restore data as hosted in the Western Regional Support Center in Seattle, Washington, following a disruption. The survey was designed to cover coastal and offshore waters of Norton Sound and the Yukon Delta. Coastal transects were parallel to the shoreline with the centerline of the aircraft approximately 0.9 km offshore. Offshore transects were flown east to west along lines of latitude, north to south along lines of longitude, or on diagonals when travelling to and from airports. An adaptive sampling design was used in 1992 to 1995 to increase survey effort in areas where belugas had been sighted. When the belugas were seen on an offshore transect, additional parallel transects were flown at a 3.6-9.3 km spacing on both sides of the original line. Parallel transects were continued as long as belugas were seen, and usually stopped after two transects if there were no sightings. In 1999 and 2000, the survey was designed to cover all of Norton Sound and the Yukon River mouth with east to west transects regularly spaced at 9.3 km intervals. The total length of survey transects flown during each survey period was limited by the aircraft time available. The completion of transects was sometimes limited by weather conditions, particularly fog or high winds, and in June 1999 ice cover was a factor. The survey aircraft was a high-wing, twin-engine Aero Commander equipped with bubble windows, based in Nome. The crew included the pilot, a data recorder in the right front seat, and two observers seated behind the pilot on the left and right sides of the aircraft. Survey altitude was usually 305m, and ground speed was 274 km/hr (150 knots) in 1992 and 220 km/hr (120 knots) in all other years except some transit lines were flown at 274 km/hr in 1994. Navigation was done by reference to landmarks and with a Global Positioning System. The survey was done in passing mode, where whales were counted while staying on effort on the trackline. On the coastal transects, all belugas visible along the survey track were counted. The 1992 surveys were conducted as strip transect surveys; for the offshore transects, observers counted whales within 915 m wide strips on each side of the aircraft. The strips were offset 305 m from the centerline to eliminate the blind spot under the plane. The 1993 to 95 and 1999 to 2000 surveys were conducted as line transect surveys; the offshore transects on each side of the aircraft were divided into seven zones and each beluga sighting was recorded in one of the zones. Inclinometers were used to delineate the inner and outer bounds of zones from 0 to 51 deg. In 1992 and 1993, sightings and other data were recorded on datasheets by observers in one-minute intervals and were then entered into a computer database. In 1994 to“1995 and 1999 to 2000, a computer-based data entry program was used, logging the locations and times for the beginning and end of transects, the position on transect every 1 minute, and the exact time and position of each sighting. Environmental data and sighting conditions were also recorded. Data fields with S at the beginning of the field title (e.g., SOBSNUM, SGROUPSIZ) indicate sighting-related fields. Data fields with W at the beginning of the field title (WCLOUD, WBEAUSTAT, etc.) indicate weather-related fields. No citation at this time Organization AFSC Marine Mammal Laboratory Originator 1 NA 68017 Entity gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:67735 Janice Waite 2022-08-19T19:18:33 SysAdmin InPortAdmin 2026-03-04T19:17:17 2022-11-28 Alaska Fisheries Science Center AFSC 7600 Sand Point Way N.E., Building 4 Seattle WA 98115 USA https://www.afsc.noaa.gov 0700-1700 Pacific Time 1001 Public No No 2022-11-28 1 Year 2023-11-28