Short‐finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus) experience dramatic changes in temperature during deep dives, but studies of pilot whale habitat use typically rely solely on surface temperature measurements. We quantified vertically integrated thermal habitat for short‐finned pilot whales using a novel metric, degree‐hours, developed using data from digital acoustic recording tags (DTAGs) deployed off Cape Hatteras along with interpolated temperature profiles at depth from the Met Office Hadley Centre EN4 oceanographic data set. We then compared estimates of thermal habitat calculated from surface waters with estimates of vertically integrated thermal habitat calculated using EN4 data collected along the eastern seaboard of the U.S. to understand how available thermal habitat is influenced by seasonal and spatial variability in water temperature. Estimates of vertically integrated thermal habitat were typically lower than estimates produced using surface temperatures, and the difference was greatest at intermediate latitudes and in warmer seasons, where and when there is a high degree of variability between surface and bottom temperatures. Our work highlights the importance of considering temperature at depth to accurately assess the thermal habitat of deep‐diving marine vertebrates, and presents a means of quantifying thermal habitat that will be useful for understanding the thermal ranges of these species.

中文翻译：

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深度温度对短尾pilot鲸栖息地估计的影响

短翅目鲸（Globicephala macrorhynchus）在深潜期间会经历温度的剧烈变化，但对小鲸鱼栖息地使用情况的研究通常仅依赖于表面温度测量。我们使用从哈特拉斯角附近部署的数字声波记录标签（DTAG）的数据以及大都会办公室Hadley中心EN4的深度内插温度曲线开发的新颖度量度小时来量化短尾鲸的垂直整合热栖息地。海洋学数据集。然后，我们比较了从地表水计算出的热栖息地估计值与使用沿美国东部沿海地区收集的EN4数据计算出的垂直积分热栖息地估计值，以了解可用的热栖息地如何受到水温季节和空间变化的影响。垂直整合的热栖息地的估算值通常低于使用地表温度得出的估算值，并且在中纬度和较温暖的季节（地表温度与底部温度之间存在高度可变性）的差异最大。我们的工作凸显了考虑深度温度以准确评估深海潜水脊椎动物的热栖息地的重要性，并提出了量化热栖息地的方法，这将有助于理解这些物种的热范围。