Species Distribution: Melon-Headed Whale - Hawaii

Marine mammals abundance and distribution

This dataset contains a collection of known point locations of melon-headed whales identified through direct human observation via shipborne and aerial surveys. This can be useful for assessing species abundance, population structure, habitat use, and behavior. This collection is aggregated from multiple data sources and survey periods listed below. Each data point contains attributes for further information about the time and source of the observation. This dataset was compiled by the Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System (PacIOOS) and may be updated in the future if additional data sources are acquired.

Cascadia Research Collective (CRC) has been undertaking shipborne surveys for odontocetes in Hawaiian waters since 2000. Two populations of melon-headed whales have been identified in Hawaii: a smaller population resident to shallow waters off the northwest side of Hawaii Island and a larger population that moves among multiple Hawaiian islands and offshore. In addition, Dr. Joseph Mobley of the Marine Mammal Research Consultants (MMRC) led aerial surveys for cetaceans in Hawaiian waters from 1993-2003.

For further information, please see: http://www.cascadiaresearch.org/hawaiian-cetacean-studies/melon-headed-whales-hawaii

Data and resources

GeoServer

This URL provides access to this dataset via GeoServer, which offers multiple output formats and an OpenLayers viewer.

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PacIOOS Voyager (Google Maps API)

This URL provides a viewer and/or data access for this dataset.

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Research Organization Registry (ROR) Identifier

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Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) Identifier

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Research Organization Registry (ROR) Identifier

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Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) Identifier

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Research Organization Registry (ROR) Identifier

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Research Organization Registry (ROR) Identifier

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OGC-WFS

Open Geospatial Consortium Web Feature Service (WFS). Supported WFS versions include 1.0.0, 1.1.0, and 2.0.0. Supported output formats include CSV, GeoJSON,…

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Research Organization Registry (ROR) Identifier

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Research Organization Registry (ROR) Identifier

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OGC-WMS

Open Geospatial Consortium Web Map Service (WMS). Supported WMS versions include 1.1.1 and 1.3.0. Supported map formats include AtomPub, GeoRSS, GeoTIFF, GIF,…

WMS Open

Additional information

Date (creation)	2018-01-31
Date (issued)	2018-01-31
Date (revision)	2020-07-13
Status	onGoing
Update frequency	asNeeded
Metadata language	en
License	The data may be used and redistributed for free but is not intended for legal use, since it may contain inaccuracies. Neither the data Contributor, University of Hawaii, PacIOOS, NOAA, State of Hawaii nor the United States Government, nor any of their employees or contractors, makes any warranty, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, or assumes any legal liability for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness, of this information.
Source metadata	ISO 19115 XML
Last updated	2026-11-04
Created	2026-11-04
API	package_show