An opportunistic marine mammal survey through the Atlantic Ocean between the UK and Antarctica was undertaken in November and December 2020. The RRS James Clark Ross, was used to transfer cargo and personnel for the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) from the UK to Rothera Research Station, Antarctica for the start of the 2020/2021 summer season. The transit and station relief included stops at King Edward Point and Bird Island, South Georgia, Falkland Islands and Signy Research Station, South Orkney Islands. The journey took a total of 48 days. Two JNCC marine mammal observers were on-board as well as other dedicated observers. Marine mammal observations were made as opportunistic sightings and recorded along with geographical position and other metadata. This transit and subsequent survey was unique in its passage as few vessels journey down the centre of the North and South Atlantic and continue on down the Western Antarctic Peninsula. British Antarctic Survey will continue to make this journey twice a year and it could provide a platform for an annual marine mammal survey of the entire Atlantic Ocean.

This annotated dataset comprises locational data of beluga whales along the eastern shore of the Yugor Penisula and in the inner part of Baydaratskaya Bay in the southern Kara Sea (Russia) as detected from Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite imagery on July 4th and 9th, 2016. Images were manually scanned and whales detected through the use of grids. Additional metadata includes information on image type and model, and whale distinctive characteristics (e.g., fluke or blow). This work supports the ''training'' of machine learning algorithms for automatic detection of whales from satellite imagery. This study was possible thanks to imagery support from MAXAR Technologies/Digital Globe Foundation for the VHR images and core funding from British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, as part of the ''Wildlife from Space'' project.

This dataset includes stable nitrogen isotopes of bulk tissue (delta-15Nbulk) and compound specific stable nitrogen isotopes on amino acids (delta-15NAA) measured in harp seal (Pagophilus groenlandicus) teeth from Southern Barents Sea, Greenland Sea, Northwest Atlantic, and ringed seal (Pusa hispida) muscles from Canadian Arctic Archipelago and Baffin Island, in the Arctic and sub-Arctic. Teeth of harp seals from the Northwest Atlantic (n=48) were taken from archives in Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) St John''s, Canada from 1979 to 2016. Teeth of harp seals from the Barents Sea (n=72) and Greenland Sea (n=55) were taken from archives of the Institute of Marine Research (IMR), Norway, from 1963 to 2018 and 1953 to 2014, respectively. Muscle tissue from ringed seals were opportunistically sampled as part of Inuit subsistence harvests. Samples from the CAA were collected in Resolute from 1992 to 2016 (n=66). Muscle samples from the Baffin Bay were collected in Pangirtung from 1990 to 2016 (n=39). The seal samples were collected as part of Norwegian commercial sealing and student field courses from the University of Tromso in Norway (Barents Sea and Greenland Sea) and the Inuit subsistence and commercial harvests in Canada (Northwest Atlantic, Baffin Island, Canadian Archipelago). Analyses of delta-15Nbulk and delta-15NAA of seal tissue were carried out at the Liverpool Isotopes for Environmental Research laboratory, University of Liverpool. Results are reported here in standard delta-notation (per mille) relative to atmospheric N2. This work resulted from the ARISE project (NE/P006035/1 and NE/P006310/1), as part of the Changing Arctic Ocean programme, funded by the UKRI Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

Cetacean sightings in South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands waters, made by a team of four professional marine mammal observers during the British Antarctic Survey CCAMLR synoptic krill survey on the RRS Discovery (DY098), January and February 2019. The latitude and longitude of each sighting, the identified species, bearing and distance from the vessel, and estimated group size are provided. These data have been used by BAS to estimate (i) humpback whale and (ii) baleen whale abundance in South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands waters in 2019. Funding was provided by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, as part of the Overseas Territories Blue Belt programme, as well as the South Georgia Heritage Trust, Friends of South Georgia Island and Darwin PLUS award DPLUS057.

Monitoring whales in remote regions is important for their conservation, using traditional survey platforms (boat and plane) is logistically difficult. The use of very high-resolution satellite imagery to survey whales, particularly in remote regions, is gaining interest and momentum. However, development is hindered by the lack of automated systems to detect whales. Such a system requires an open source library containing examples of whales and confounding features in satellite imagery. Here we present such a database, created by surveying 6,300 km2 of satellite imagery in various regions across the globe, which allowed us to detect 633 whale objects. This dataset contains image chips as png files. Funding was provided from a BAS Innovation Voucher.

This annotated dataset comprises locational data of grey whales in lagoons San Ignacio and Ojo de Liebre in Baja California Sur as detected from Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite imagery in January 2009, 2013 and 2015. Images were manually scanned and whales detected through the use of grids. Additional metadata includes information on image type and model, and whale distinctive characteristics (e.g., fluke or blow). This work supports the '' training'' of machine learning algorithms for automatic detection of whales from satellite imagery. This study formed part of the Ecosystems component of the British Antarctic Survey Polar Science for Planet Earth Programme, funded by The Natural Environment Research Council. The work was supported by the UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Application of Artificial Intelligence to the study of Environmental Risks (reference EP/S022961/1).

This dataset summarises cetacean sightings made during January and February 2019 by an experienced team of cetacean researchers doing regular small-scale surveys in coastal waters close to Cumberland Bay, South Georgia. Some surveys were just within Cumberland Bay, and others include locations to the west and east of Cumberland Bay, as far as Stromness Bay (west) and St Andrews Bay (east). The dataset includes survey tracks, survey effort periods, species sighted and numbers of animals encountered. Over the survey period, Cumberland Bay alone was surveyed six times. Cumberland Bay plus adjoining waters were surveyed nine times, a total of 25:12 hr of search effort for all surveys. Nine expeditions were carried out in January (13:39 hr effort, with whales sighted on six surveys) and six in February (11:33 hr effort, with whales sighted on three surveys). A total of 43 whales (41 humpback whales) were observed during 26 sighting events, nine of which were within Cumberland Bay; a further 10 humpback whales were sighted at the entrance to the Bay (Right Whale Rocks), making a total of 19 humpback whale sightings within or at the entrance to Cumberland Bay. EU BEST 2.0 Medium Grant 1594, DARWIN PLUS award DPLUS057 and funding from the South Georgia Heritage Trust and Friends of South Georgia Island.

These are light level and activity data collected from BAS geolocators that were deployed on 4 Leopard Seals hauled out on Bird Island, South Georgia. Tags were deployed between May 2003 and June 2013. One seal Y5282(B4942) was tracked during two non-consecutive years using two different identification flipper tags. There are three data types for each seal a) the unprocessed light sensor data b) the unprocessed activity (wet/dry) data and c) The estimated positions estimated using the BAStag and SGAT packages in R. All files are in the CSV format and each folder has a readme.txt file describing the data structure of the files within. The data are reported in detail in Staniland et al. 2018 ''Long Term Movements and Activity Patterns of an Antarctic Marine Apex Predator: The Leopard Seal'' PLOSone

Monitoring whales in remote regions is important for their conservation, using traditional survey platforms (boat and plane) is logistically difficult. The use of very high-resolution satellite imagery to survey whales, particularly in remote regions, is gaining interest and momentum. However, development is hindered by the lack of automated systems to detect whales. Such a system requires an open source library containing examples of whales and confounding features in satellite imagery. Here we present such a database, created by surveying 6,300 km2 of satellite imagery in various regions across the globe, which allowed us to detect 633 whale objects and 120 confounding features. Funding was provided from a BAS Innovation Voucher.