Molecular Detection and Characterization of Highly Pathogenic H5N1 Avian Influenza Viruses in Wild Birds Inhabiting Western Alaska Provides Evidence for Three Independent Viral Introductions

This metadata document describes the data contained in the "rawData" folder of this data package. This data package contains all data collected by the Argos System from satellite transmitters attached to 63 Bar-tailed Godwits at multiple sites across their annual range, 2005-2010. Five data files are included in the "rawData" folder of this data package. Two data files (with identical content) contain the raw Argos DIAG (Diagnostic) data, one in the legacy verbose ASCII format and one in a tabular Comma Separate Value (CSV) format. Two other data files (with identical content) contain the raw Argos DS (Dispose) data, one in the legacy verbose ASCII format and one in a tabular CSV format. The fifth file, "deploymentAttributes", contains one record for each transmitter deployment in a CSV formatted table. The deployment attributes file contains information such as when the transmitter was attached to the animal, when tracking of a live animal ended, and a variety of variables describing the animal and transmitter. This table is identical to the "deploymentAttributes" table in the "processedData" folder of this data package.<br>These data were collected to better understand the timing and patterns of migratory movement of Bar-tailed Godwits between arctic breeding areas in Alaska and Russia and wintering areas along the coasts of Australia and New Zealand<br>These raw data are provided with this data package for completeness of the archive. Quality-controlled, processed data are included in the "processedData" folder with this data package. Those data are better suited for most analytical purposes. Data users are advised to review the README and metadata documents to ensure proper use of the 'Deployment_Fate' and 'Tracking_Status' variables. Misuse or disregard of these variables could result in location data from dead animals or detached transmitters being incorrectly analyzed as data representing a live animal. Also note that, outlier values are not uncommon in the sensor data due to transmission parity errors introduced during satellite communications and no checksum values were embedded in the sensor messages to help screen for parity errors. The deployment attributes and processed tracking data in this data package are also publicly available in Movebank (www.movebank.org) under a study entitled: "barTailedGodwit_USGS_ASC_argos".