This dataset presents point annotations of stranded whale (Sperm whales, Physeter macrocephalus) and dolphin (Pilot whales, Globicephala melas edwardii) species identified in very high-resolution (VHR) optical and SAR satellite imagery, along offshore islands of New Zealand and Tasmania, between 2018-2023. Cetacean strandings offer significant conservation value for the assessment of ecosystems and serve as early warning of emerging concerns regarding animal, ocean, and human health. However stranding monitoring programmes are scarce or non-existent along minimally populated areas, coastlines with limited economic resources, geographically remote areas, complex coastlines and areas of geopolitical unrest. VHR satellite imagery offers the prospect of improving monitoring in these regions. While VHR satellite imagery is able to detect large baleen whale strandings, mass strandings are predominantly smaller-sized odontocetes (toothed whale and dolphin species). Detecting odontocetes is therefore crucial for VHR satellites to be useful for monitoring strandings globally. In addition, scaling up the use of VHR optical satellite imagery is limited by cloud cover, the primary environmental condition governing successful imagery collection. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites enable VHR imaging of Earth in cloudy regions and in darkness. This approach could facilitate strandings detection in cloudy regions and independent of daylight hours, which is critical for enabling timely emergency responses to unfolding stranding events. Here, we present data from four smaller odontocete mass strandings of long-finned pilot whale (LFPW), on Chatham, Pitt and Stewart Island, New Zealand, and one large odontocete (sperm whale) mass stranding on King Island, Tasmania, Australia between 2018-2023, to successfully detect and quantify large and small odontocete strandings in VHR optical and SAR satellite imagery. This research has been supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) through a SENSE CDT studentship (grant no. NE/T00939X/1). The research was further supported by additional funding provided through, the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) Innovation Voucher, Sentinel Hub and their #30MapChallenge competition, BAS Ecosystems, and the support and cooperation of Airbus and Maxar Technologies Ltd, for their rapid response and efforts to enable successful collection of the imagery analysed here.

A database of pyroclastic density current deposit characteristics. The database includes both quantitative datasets (e.g., grain size, density, bedform dimensions, thickness) and qualitative descriptors (e.g., sedimentary structures, lithofacies). PDCD-DAT includes data from 85 source publications, covering 97 eruptions or eruptive phases, and 214 individual depositional units from 55 globally distributed volcanoes. Eruptions recorded in the database range from VEI 1-8. A website is currently being built which will host the searchable database, https://flowdat.org/pdcd-dat