Effects of Pop-up Satellite Archival Tags (PSAT) Temporal Data Resolution on Interpretations of Behavior, Habitat Use and Movement

The effects of temporal data resolution on the detection and interpretation of fish behaviors are questions that should be asked of data storage devices with finite capacities.  However, quantifying such effect is limited to situations where multiple data resolutions are available.  In pop-up satellite archival tags (PSATs), data transmissions via satellite are limited, such that the temporal resolution is a negative function of the deployment duration.  Physical recovery of PSATs overcomes this limitation and provides high resolution data on temperature, depth, etc. at rates at least 15-30 times greater than transmitted data.  Using data from PSATs physically recovered from Atlantic halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus), we quantify the effects of data resolution (2 min. vs. 30-60 min.) from continuous data series on interpreting rapid vertical ascents during the expected spawning season.  These putative ‘spawning rises’ of ca. 6 minute durations are absent within low resolution data series.  In contrast, reliance on archived daily minimum-maximum data to detect such spawning rises yields false-positives at a rate twice those as observed with high resolution data.   We highlight the use of new technologies to facilitate tag recovery and the application of resulting high resolution data series to models of spatial movement over an annual cycle.