Marine Wildlife Behavior Database
Metadata

Section 9: Surfacing Angle
This section includes fields that describe the angle at which the animal(s) return to the surface. Note that this section refers to the ascent phase of a dive; the previous section (Dive Angle) corresponds to the descent phase of the dive.

Fields:

• Minimum Surfacing Angle
  SA_MinSurfacingAngle(deg): The minimum angle at which the animal(s) ascend (degrees).
  
  
• Maximum Surfacing Angle
  SA_MaxSurfacingAngle(deg): The maximum angle at which the animal(s) ascend (degrees).
  
  
• Mean Surfacing Angle
  SA_MeanSurfacingAngle(deg): The mean or average angle at which the animal(s) ascend (degrees).
  
  
• Median Surfacing Angle
  SA_MedianSurfacingAngle(deg): The middle value in the distribution of the surfacing angles (degrees). If there is an even number of surfacing angle values, it is the average of the two middle values.
  
  
• Mode Surfacing Angle
  SA_ModeSurfacingAngle(deg): The most common surfacing angle value; in the frequency distribution, the surfacing angle with the greatest number of frequencies (degrees).
  
  
• Gamma Distribution Alpha
  SA_GammaDistAlpha: The shape parameter of the gamma distribution of surfacing angles, determined by submitting data and fitting the raw data in a statistical package.
  
  
• Gamma Distribution Beta
  SA_GammaDistBeta: The rate parameter, equal to 1/Θ (the scale parameter), of the gamma distribution of surfacing angles, determined by submitting data and fitting the raw data in a statistical package.
  
  
• Surfacing Angle Standard Deviation
  SA_SurfacingAngleStdDev: To express the degree of dispersion in the surfacing angle data, the standard deviation (square root of the variance) should be entered (degrees).
  
  
• Comments
  SA_Comments: Free-form field to note complications with data entry, information to review at a later date, etc.