## 1 Introduction  
Movement, defined as displacement of an organism from one place to another, is one of the key characteristics defining life [1]. A comprehensive understanding of the patterns, mechanisms, causes, and consequences of animal movement is fundamental to managing and restoring degraded ecosystems and conserving biodiversity [2]. In the face of worldwide decreasing marine predator populations, it is important to address the behavioural strategies of these animals and to understand the role of movement in determining the fate of individuals and the structure and dynamics of populations, communities, and entire ecosystems. Yet, despite extensive technological advances in aquatic telemetry [3], drivers and consequences of individual movement behaviour in oceanic habitats remain poorly understood for most species. In juvenile and adult white sharks, _Carcharoon carcharias_ ([PERSON] 1758), self-oriented movements and occasional oceanic migrations are well-documented globally [4; 5; 6]. Similarly, vertical movements of the species have been relatively well studied in the Pacific and Indian Ocean e.g., [5; 7; 8], and to a lesser extent in the Atlantic [9; 10; 11; 12]. Reported dive and horizontal patterns show a wide range of inter-individual, geographic and temporal variation in both ocean- and shelf-phases and are temporally inconsistent, complicating the development and verification of hypotheses about their ecological role. A more cohesive understanding of the 3-dimensional movements of white sharks across all life stages has thus been identified as one of the top 10 research priorities for this species globally [13] and as a key research priority under a national recovery plan for white sharks in Australian waters [14]. White sharks are listed as threatened in Australia's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act of 1999 and as 'Vulnerable' and 'Moderately Depleted' globally, based on International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red and Green List criteria, respectively [15; 16]. The waters surrounding eastern Australia and New Zealand harbour a single population of white sharks [17], hereafter referred to as eastern Australasian (EA) white sharks. Juvenile and sub-adult (hereafter referred to immature) individuals of this population regularly frequent coastal habitats along the Australian east coast [6; 18; 19; 20; 21; 22; 23; 24; 25]. Movements of this population have been relatively well studied, yet most tagging studies have focused on horizontal rather than vertical patterns, paying little attention to the 3-dimensional nature of the marine environment. Satellite and acoustic tracking data revealed complex spatial dynamics comprising an insbore continental-shelf phase as well as extensive oceanic travel, resulting in connectivity across their entire Australasian range [6; 18; 19; 20; 21; 22; 23; 24; 25]. Vertical movements in coastal habitats were typically concentrated in the upper 100 m of the water column [6; 21; 25]. Yet, reported vertical behaviours were highly variable during oceanic travel, including bimodal depth distributions, deep-diving and surface-oriented swimming [6; 26; 27]. Similarly, reported diel-depth patterns of EA white sharks are inconsistent across and within individuals, ranging from highly diel-oriented behaviour to a complete lack thereof. Diel-oriented patterns identified by previous studies on juvenile, sub-adult, and adult EA white sharks have typically been limited to short periods (days) and were not well correlated with location. Observations of rapid switching of behaviour from one mode to another, even when sharks were in the same location, were common [6; 24; 26; 27]. In contrast, archival data of adult white sharks in the Pacific revealed clear spatial patterning of diel vertical migration (DVM) behaviour [28; 29]. Although most authors have attributed observed diving patterns to prey searching and navigation e.g., [10; 26], drivers of vertical movement patterns in white sharks remain speculative across their micromglobal range.