14 FISH AND WILDLIFE TECHNICAL REPORT 25 



Habitat I (76) Codes assigned by the observer for a specific cruise or project. Codes from to 9 can be assigned 



and any combination of numbers chosen for analysis. 

 Habitat II (77) Codes assigned by the observer for a specific cruise or project. Codes from to 9 can be assigned 



and any combination of numbers chosen for analysis. 

 Transect Width (78-80) Width of count zone in tens of meters (e.g., 300 m zone is recorded as "30"). 



Record Type 2: Environmental Data 



Depth (16-19) Depth of water column, in whole meters. If the transect begins or ends at shore enter 1 m. One 



fathom is equal to 1.83 m. 

 Surface Temperature (23-26) Surface temperature of water to nearest tenth of a degree Celsius. Column 23 indicates 



positive or negative degrees (if left blank positive values are assumed). 

 Surface Salinity (27-29) Surface salinity, to nearest tenth of a part per thousand. 

 Distance to Land (31-34) Distance to nearest land, in tenths of a nautical mile. 

 Distance to Ice Edge (35) See code 4, Appendix B. Distance to nearest ice edge, in nautical miles. 

 Barometric Pressure (39-44) Barometric pressure, to nearest tenth of a millibar. Column 44 uses + for rising, 



for steady, and - for falling. 



Wind Speed (47-48) Speed of wind, in knots. 



Sea State (49) See code 5, Appendix B. 



Swell (52-54) Height, in tenths of meters. 



Weather (55-56) See code 6, Appendix B. 



Ice in Transect (59-64) and Ice out of Transect (65-66) 



Coverage (59 and 65): See code 7, Appendix B. 



Type (60 and 66): See code 8, Appendix B. 



Form (61): See code 9, Appendix B. 



Relief (62): See code 10, Appendix B. 



Thickness (63): See code 11, Appendix B. 



Stage of Melt (64): See code 12, Appendix B. 

 Tide (69) See code 13, Appendix B. 



Record Type 5: Observation Data 



Common Name ( ) See Appendix C. These alpha codes are entered during the transect. The taxonomic code 



(18-29) is inserted by the computer from these codes; thus it is important to use the alpha codes listed in Appen- 

 dix C. Generally, we use the first two letters of each common name (e.g., common murre = COMU). If one 

 of the names is hyphenated we use the first letter of each name (e.g., red-legged kittiwake = RLKI). UN is used 

 for unknowns (e.g., unidentified gull = UNGU, unidentified large alcid = UNLA). 



Taxonomic Code (18-29) It is not necessary to complete these columns if the proper alpha code is used. We use 

 the NODC codes, which are based on five taxonomic groupings, each with two digits. For example, a common 

 murre is represented by 9129010301 where 91 = class (Aves); 29 = order or suborder (Charadriiformes); 



01 = family (Alcidae); 03 = genus (Uria); and 01 = species epithet (aalge). This code system enables us to 

 analyze our data at various taxonomic levels. 



Age (32) See code 14, Appendix B. 



Sex (33) See code 15, Appendix B. 



Color Phase or Plumage (34) See code 16, Appendix B. 



Group Size This area of the form is used for accumulating individual sightings of a particular species with the 

 same behaviors, flight directions, sex, age, color phase, and plumage attributes. The total number is then put 

 in the Number field (37-41). Each sighting may be used for noncomputer analysis of group sizes. Therefore, 

 each individual or group acting as a unit should be entered as a separate number in Group Size. This field is especially 

 helpful when recording data directly on the data forms. 



