NERC Data Catalogue Service
GPS tracks of chinstrap penguins at the South Orkney Islands, 2011-2019 [Version 2.0]
This dataset comprises Global Positioning System (GPS) data for chinstrap penguins, Pygoscelid antarcticus, at the South Orkney Islands (Signy, Monroe, Powell and Laurie island) from 2011 to 2019. Chinstrap penguins were fitted with GPS tags between December to January (austral summer) to better understand their movement for seabird conservation and management. The data includes GPS positions at specified intervals for deployed tags, with additional metadata on the morphology of the birds, their deployment, and breeding.
Work was carried out by personnel at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and was funded by Natural Environment Research Council (UK) core funding to BAS.
This is an updated version of a previous dataset. There have been additional tracks included with further quality control carried out.
Simple
- Date (Creation)
- 2025-03-03
- Date (Revision)
- 2025-03-03
- Date (Publication)
- 2025-03-03
- Date (released)
- 2025-03-03
- Edition
- 2.0] (
- Unique resource identifier
- https://doi.org/10.5285/8f8ccba5-01af-4b00-8a3b-c3c85b24bf92
- Codespace
- doi
- Unique resource identifier
- GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/02019
- Codespace
- https://data.bas.ac.uk/
- Other citation details
- Please cite this item as: Trathan, P.N., Lowther, A., Manco, F., Ratcliffe, N., & Manthorpe, S.J. (2025). GPS tracks of chinstrap penguins at the South Orkney Islands, 2011-2019 [Version 2.0] (Version 2.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/8f8ccba5-01af-4b00-8a3b-c3c85b24bf92
- Credit
- No credit.
- Status
- completed Completed
https://www.bas.ac.uk/team/business-teams/information-services/uk-polar-data-centre/
- Maintenance and update frequency
- asNeeded As needed
- Maintenance note
- completed Completed
- Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Science Keywords
-
- EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Ecological Dynamics > Diurnal Movements
- EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Ecological Dynamics > Feeding Habitat
- EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Ecological Dynamics > Food-web Dynamics
- EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Ecological Dynamics > Indicator Species
- EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Ecological Dynamics > Population Dynamics
- EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Ecological Dynamics > Range Changes
- EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Ecological Dynamics > Trophic Dynamics
- EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Ecological Dynamics
- EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Zoology
- Theme
-
- Chinstrap penguin
- GPS
- Global Positioning System
- Pygoscelid antarcticus
- Signy Island
- Tracking
- Place
-
- Signy Island, South Orkney Islands Antarctica
- Monroe Island, South Orkney Islands Antarctica
- Powell Island, South Orkney Islands Antarctica
- Laurie Island, South Orkney Islands Antarctica
- GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0
- Access constraints
- otherRestrictions Other restrictions
- Other constraints
- no limitations to public access
- Access constraints
- otherRestrictions Other restrictions
- Other constraints
- no limitations
- Use constraints
- license License
- Other constraints
- Open Government Licence v3.0
- Use constraints
- otherRestrictions Other restrictions
- Other constraints
- This data is governed by the NERC Data Policy: https://www.ukri.org/who-we-are/nerc/our-policies-and-standards/nerc-data-policy/
- Use constraints
- otherRestrictions Other restrictions
- Other constraints
- This data is governed by the NERC data policy and supplied under Open Government Licence v.3
- Use constraints
- otherRestrictions Other restrictions
- Other constraints
- There are no access constraints on this dataset.
- Unique resource identifier
- doi
- Codespace
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- Association Type
- crossReference Cross reference
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- crossReference Cross reference
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- Unique resource identifier
- url
- Codespace
- url
- Association Type
- crossReference Cross reference
- Spatial representation type
- textTable Text, table
- Metadata language
- engEnglish
- Character set
- utf8 UTF8
- Topic category
-
- Biota
))
- Begin date
- 2011-12-29
- End date
- 2019-01-24
- Supplemental Information
- It is recommended that careful attention be paid to the contents of any data, and that the author be contacted with any questions regarding appropriate use. If you find any errors or omissions, please report them to polardatacentre@bas.ac.uk.
Distributor
https://www.bas.ac.uk/team/business-teams/information-services/uk-polar-data-centre/
- Units of distribution
- bytes
- Transfer size
- 1
- OnLine resource
-
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- Hierarchy level
- dataset Dataset
- Statement
-
Methodology:
Global Positioning system (GPS) devices were fitted to 313 chinstrap penguins at the South Orkney Islands (listed below) over four seasons between December and January, 2011 to 2019. Breeding penguins were caught during incubation, brood and creche periods and fitted with GPS loggers (Sirtrack Fastloc) using Tessa tape and a two-part quick-setting glue. Handling time did not exceed 10 minutes for deployment and 5 minutes for retrieval. Loggers were always less than 1 percent of the bird's body mass.
Devices were retrieved on average after 4.7 days.
GPS loggers recorded locations every 4 minutes, with longer intervals if the GPS could not connect to satellites (when the bird was underwater). GPS data includes a timestamp along with the latitude and longitude in decimal degrees.
The number of deployed tags per year are as follows:
Signy Island:
2011 -2012: 11
2013-2014: 25
2015-2016: 28
2018-2019: 59
Laurie Island:
2011-2012: 60
Monroe Island:
2015-2016: 65
Powell Island:
2013-2014: 68
Data collection:
Sirtrack Fastloc 33 F2G133A (38.4 g in air, 65 x 28 x 22 mm) with 40 mm whip antenna
Sirtrack Fastloc 33 F3G133A (31.0 g in air, 63 x 24 x 22 mm) with 40 mm whip antenna
Data quality:
Values which were null or reported as 0.00 in the latitude and longitude columns were removed.
This is a version 2 of a previous dataset, that included GPS and TDR tags together. Errors found in the metadata and data were rectified in this version, which also includes a broader spatial and temporal coverage of tracks.
Where the sex of the bird was not known, 'U' was used in the metadata file.
- File identifier
- 8f8ccba5-01af-4b00-8a3b-c3c85b24bf92 XML
- Metadata language
- engEnglish
- Character set
- utf8 UTF8
- Hierarchy level
- dataset Dataset
- Hierarchy level name
- dataset
- Date stamp
- 2025-03-03
- Metadata standard name
- ISO 19115 Geographic Information - Metadata
- Metadata standard version
- ISO 19115:2003(E)
https://www.bas.ac.uk/team/business-teams/information-services/uk-polar-data-centre/
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