Government agencies and the public can now find information on the endangered population of Cook Inlet beluga whales on an easy-to-use public data portal through the Alaska Ocean Observing System’s website at AOOS.org.
Extensive data on beluga whale sightings and environmental conditions in Cook Inlet has been collected over the past decade, but most of it is not easily found or used by both the public and agency experts. The portal was created to correct this by integrating and visualizing beluga whale sighting data with other biological, physical and socio-economic data in the Cook Intel region.
AOOS developed the portal in cooperation with NOAA, the agency that manages beluga whales, the Cook Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory Council and Axiom Data Science to provide a tool for ecosystem-based management of the Cook Intel design.
