Visual observations recorded during two blue whale voyages in the Bonney Upwelling, south east Australia in 2012

An outline of the blue whale voyages of 2012 can be found here:http://www.marinemammals.gov.au/sorp/antarctic-blue-whale-project/bonney-upwelling-acoustic-testing-expeditionswith further information here:http://www.marinemammals.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/135617/SC-64-SH11.pdfThe 'Logger' data entry system was developed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and is a flexible system to record information during a voyage. This system was the primary data entry system for the voyage and all events were recorded in Logger’s database.Blue whale voyage 1 datasets: 12 - 25 January 2012 Sightings from the first blue whale voyage are recorded across three access databases:20120117LoggerFinalPart1Updated.mdb20120121LoggerFinalPart2Updated.mdb20120125LoggerFinalPart3Updated.mdbThese databases contain tables describing:Comments: details additional to sightings entered or data entry omissions, time stamped (UTC)Observer effort - codes found in lookup table, date/time in UTCGPS data (time stamped, UTC) and headingLookup - contains all topic codes to apply to all other tablesResights: resighting details for sightings already recorded, time/date in UTC, initial sighting number, blow count and notesCetacean sightings - date/time in UTC, sighting number, observer name, vessel, estimate of distance, bearing, heading, species code, sighting cue code, estimate of number of individuals (low, best and high), group behaviour, pod compaction, surface synchronicity and commentsWeather: Date/time in UTC, sightability, glare, sea state, wind strength, swell, weather, cloud cover, cloud height, notesBlue whale voyage 2 datasets: 13 - 30 March 2012 GPS data is stored in the file called 'gps_meld_data_exp.csv'. This is an amalgam dataset of two GPS data streams, that has been checked and corrected (see 'Quality' for further details. Date time is stored in two formats. The first is %Y-%m-%d %H-%M-%S format, as in "2012-03-16 17:54:32". The second format is a concatenated, orderable numeric string, as in 20120316175432.###The small file 'trip_db.csv' contains a quick reference as to when the four trips of blue whale voyage 2 started, to the minute. These times have been corrected for the minor (i.e., 2 mins 15 second) error (see 'Quality' below).###Effort database is contained in the file 'VWhale2_database_effort_corrected.csv'. A fair amount of 'correction' has gone on with this data as there were great variations in the way different people were adding new information into Logger. Furthermore, there were 'innovations' made to the Logger system, particularly after the first couple of trips. In particular, the effort was added to Logger in the first trip was exactly as it was in the first voyage (the VL was too seasick to make any amendments). So, according to the older effort classification, effort for the *first trip* started and ended, but there were no observer rotations or notes taken as to what platform the observers were perched on. Given there was quite a bit of seasickness that first day, the only observers likely to be working would have been PE, PO and DD. These observers favoured the Fly Bridge so all sighting effort for the first trip has been allocated to these observers on the Fly Bridge.The subsequent innovations were: observers were not told how far away a potential calling whale was. If, however, the acousticians thought that we were almost upon the animal(s), they will indicate this to the observing team.Acoustic.search == 1 indicates when the acousticians have notified observers that there was a group of blue whales in the area.Local.Search == 1 indicates that after an initial sighting was made, sighting effort and boat movement converted into a search to get closer to the animal(s) in order to confirm their species (not usually such a huge issue with blue whales, admittedly), group size and to get photo-ID.FD == 1 when effort on the foredeck either started or continued.FB == 1 when effort on the fly bridge either started or continued.For the effort types, the effort interval is defined as the time between the row the '1' value first appears and the date/time of the next row of the similar effort type.Index.new: Because two databases were merged to form the one effort dataset (the first trip had its own Logger MS-Access database), an overall index, Index.new, was created for continuity.Index: Effort index as it appears in the original Logger MS-Access databases.GpsIndex: In Logger, each Effort (or sighting) row is tagged with the accompanying GPS index number. This ties an effort event with the date/time and geographical location information displayed in the GPS data.GPSIndex.cor: As with GpsIndex but, again, as the databases were merged, a new GPSIndex value was created (.cor == corrected) to account for this, and for the added BPM GPS data.GpsTime: Date (only), as derived from GPS. Has been abbreviate to only date due to the joys of how Microsoft packages deal with date/time objects; full date/time value for each effort row can be derived from the GPS data, via the GPSIndex.cor valueEffortNo: Each effort row has been assigned a unique number within each respective MS-Access Logger file. This is somewhat redundant with the Index value.Local time: When Logger records an event, it also takes a date/time value from the local computer. It's not really clear to me what this value actually represents.Observer: The head observer at the time the effort event was logged. Basically, just means the person driving the Logger computer (i.e., physically entering values and making weather obs)Event: Each event has a unique descriptor number. See the 'Lookup' table in the MS-Access database.Event.cor: This column should be completely ignored.Notes: Any comments that accompanied particular effort entries. See also the Comments table for notes not specifically related to any Effort entries.Platform: Which sighting platforms observers either started or stopped effort on, or rotated through. Unfortunately, this information wasn't always consistently recorded. See the FB and FD columns for a more correct record of when sighting effort was on and off.Platform.cor: This column should be ignored.Observers: All observers on rotation.Sonobuoy: when the launching of a sonobuoy was noted in Logger, here are the numbers (this is not a complete list)Trip: which trip it was#####Sightings for all species are given in 'sightings.csv'.#####Weather observations are in 'weather.csv'.Recording of glare angles (i.e., start and end bearing) started on third trip.#####Comments in 'comments.csv'.Please note there were no comments recorded during the first trip.

2012年蓝鲸航行的概况可在此处获取：http://www.marinemammals.gov.au/sorp/antarctic-blue-whale-project/bonney-upwelling-acoustic-testing-expeditions，更多详细信息可参阅：http://www.marinemammals.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/135617/SC-64-SH11.pdf。

"Logger"数据录入系统由国际动物福利基金会（International Fund for Animal Welfare, IFAW）开发，是一款灵活的航行信息记录系统，为本次航行的核心数据录入工具，所有航行事件均存储于Logger的数据库中。

### 首次蓝鲸航行数据集：2012年1月12日至25日
首次蓝鲸航行的目击数据存储于三个MS-Access数据库中，分别为：
20120117LoggerFinalPart1Updated.mdb
20120121LoggerFinalPart2Updated.mdb
20120125LoggerFinalPart3Updated.mdb

这些数据库包含以下数据表：
1. 备注表（Comments）：存储目击记录之外的补充细节或数据录入遗漏信息，带协调世界时（UTC）时间戳
2. 观测工作量表（Observer effort）：编码信息详见查找表，采用协调世界时（UTC）格式的日期与时间
3. GPS数据（GPS data）：带协调世界时（UTC）时间戳与航向信息
4. 查找表（Lookup）：包含所有可应用于其他数据表的主题编码
5. 重目击表（Resights）：存储已记录目击事件的重目击详情，包含协调世界时（UTC）格式的时间/日期、初始目击编号、喷气计数与备注
6. 鲸类目击表（Cetacean sightings）：包含协调世界时（UTC）格式的日期/时间、目击编号、观测者姓名、观测船只、距离估算、方位、航向、物种编码、目击线索编码、个体数量估算（最低、最佳、最高值）、群体行为、鲸群密集度、水面同步性与备注
7. 天气表（Weather）：包含协调世界时（UTC）格式的日期/时间、可见度、眩光、海况、风力、涌浪、天气状况、云量、云高与备注

### 第二次蓝鲸航行数据集：2012年3月13日至30日
GPS数据存储于文件`gps_meld_data_exp.csv`中。该文件为两条GPS数据流的合并数据集，已完成检查与修正（详见"Quality"部分了解更多细节）。日期时间采用两种格式存储：第一种为`%Y-%m-%d %H-%M-%S`格式，例如`"2012-03-16 17:54:32"`；第二种为可排序的拼接数字字符串，例如`20120316175432`。

小型文件`trip_db.csv`包含了第二次蓝鲸航行四次航次的精确到分钟的启动时间快速参考表。这些时间已针对微小误差（即2分15秒）完成修正（详见下文"Quality"部分）。

工作量数据库存储于文件`VWhale2_database_effort_corrected.csv`中。由于不同人员向Logger系统录入信息的方式存在显著差异，且在最初几次航次后对Logger系统进行了"创新性"改造，因此该数据集经过了大量修正工作。具体而言，首次航次的工作量录入方式与首次航行完全一致（当时VL因晕船无法进行任何修改）。按照旧的工作量分类标准，首次航次的工作量已标记了起始与结束时间，但未记录观测轮班情况或观测者所在平台信息。鉴于首日晕船情况较为严重，当时可能在岗的观测者仅为PE、PO与DD，且他们均偏好使用飞桥，因此首次航次的所有目击工作量均被分配至飞桥的这三位观测者。

后续的改造包括：不再向观测者告知潜在鸣唱蓝鲸的距离。但若声学专家认为观测团队已接近目标鲸群，则会向观测团队发出提示。
- `Acoustic.search == 1`：表示声学专家已通知观测团队，该区域存在蓝鲸群
- `Local.Search == 1`：表示在完成初始目击后，目击工作量与船只机动转为靠近目标鲸群的搜索行动，以确认物种（尽管蓝鲸通常无需额外确认）、群体规模并获取照片识别数据
- `FD == 1`：表示前甲板的观测工作启动或持续进行
- `FB == 1`：表示飞桥的观测工作启动或持续进行

关于工作量类型，工作量间隔定义为：某类工作量类型首次出现"1"值的行，至下一行同类工作量类型的日期/时间之间的时段。

`Index.new`：由于将两个数据库合并为一个工作量数据集（首次航次拥有独立的Logger MS-Access数据库），因此创建了全局索引`Index.new`以保证数据连续性。
`Index`：原始Logger MS-Access数据库中的工作量索引编号
`GpsIndex`：在Logger系统中，每一条工作量（或目击）行均会附带对应的GPS索引编号，用于将工作量事件与GPS数据中显示的日期/时间及地理位置信息关联起来
`GPSIndex.cor`：与`GpsIndex`类似，但由于数据库合并操作及新增的BPM GPS数据，创建了新的GPS索引值（`.cor`意为"修正"）以适配整合后的数据
`GpsTime`：仅存储从GPS数据中提取的日期，由于微软软件处理日期/时间对象的特性，该字段仅保留日期信息；每条工作量行的完整日期/时间值可通过`GPSIndex.cor`值从GPS数据中推导得出
`EffortNo`：每个工作量行在其所属的Logger MS-Access数据库文件中均被分配了唯一编号，该编号与`Index`值存在一定冗余
`Local time`：Logger系统记录事件时，会从本地计算机获取日期/时间值，目前尚不明确该值的实际含义
`Observer`：记录工作量事件录入时的首席观测者，通常指实际操作Logger计算机（即手动录入数据并记录天气观测）的人员
`Event`：每条事件均配有唯一的描述符编号，详见MS-Access数据库中的"Lookup"表
`Event.cor`：该列应完全忽略
`Notes`：特定工作量录入项附带的备注，非针对工作量条目的备注详见"Comments"表
`Platform`：观测者启动、停止或轮换的目击平台信息，但该信息并非始终一致记录，可通过`FB`与`FD`列更准确地获取目击工作量的起止时段
`Platform.cor`：该列应忽略
`Observers`：所有轮班观测者名单
`Sonobuoy`：记录Logger系统中记录的声呐浮标投放编号（并非完整列表）
`Trip`：所属航次编号

##### 所有物种的目击数据存储于`sightings.csv`文件中。
##### 天气观测数据存储于`weather.csv`文件中。
##### 眩光角度（即起始与终止方位）的记录始于第三次航次。
##### 备注信息存储于`comments.csv`文件中。
请注意，首次航次未记录任何备注信息。