Beaked Whale acoustic detections in the Gulf of Mexico, 2010 - 2013

This dataset contains a subset of passive acoustic data used to identify the acoustic signatures of four species of beaked whale in the Gulf of Mexico. The four species are Cuvier’s beaked whale, Gervais’ beaked whale, Blainville’s beaked whale, and a sound believed to be a beaked whale but of an unidentified species that we designate as “Beaked Whale Gulf ” (BWG). The data were collected at five locations in the Gulf of Mexico: Green Canyon, Mississippi Canyon, Dry Tortugas, Main Pass, and DeSoto Canyon. However, detections of beaked whales only occurred at Green Canyon, Mississippi Canyon, and Dry Tortugas. The acoustic signatures were used to estimate densities of beaked whales in the Gulf of Mexico. Results of the analysis were published in the paper Passive acoustic monitoring of beaked whale densities in the Gulf of Mexico (Hildebrand et al. 2015, DOI: 10.1038/srep16343). The data are stored in a Tethys temporal-spatial metadata database and must be used in conjunction with another programing environment. Sample source xwav audio files, and installation files and documentation for Tethys are included with the beaked whale acoustic data.