2013-005_298BPHOTOGRAPHS: SEABOSS Images from the Cruise 2013-005-FA in Block Island Sound, in JPEG Format

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Frequently-anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title:
2013-005_298BPHOTOGRAPHS: SEABOSS Images from the Cruise 2013-005-FA in Block Island Sound, in JPEG Format
Abstract:
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is producing detailed geologic maps of the coastal sea floor. Bathymetric and sidescan-sonar data, originally collected by NOAA for charting purposes, provide a framework for research and management activities along western Block Island Sound, show the composition and terrain of the seabed, and provide information on sediment transport and benthic habitat. During June 2013, bottom photographs and surficial sediment data were acquired as part of a ground-truth reconnaissance survey of this area. Interpretations were derived from the multibeam-echosounder, sidescan-sonar, sedimentary, and photographic data collected in Block Island Sound. For more information on the ground-truth survey see <http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2013-005-FA>.
  1. How should this data set be cited?

    U.S. Geological Survey, 2015, 2013-005_298BPHOTOGRAPHS: SEABOSS Images from the Cruise 2013-005-FA in Block Island Sound, in JPEG Format: Open-File Report 2014-1224, U.S. Geological Survey, Coastal and Marine Geology Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole, MA.

    Online Links:

    This is part of the following larger work.

    McMullen, K.Y., Poppe, L.J., Danforth, W.W., Blackwood, D.S., Winner, W.G., and Parker, C.E., 2015, Sea-floor morphology and sedimentary environments in western Block Island Sound, offshore of Fishers Island, New York: Open-File Report 2014-1224, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details: DVD-ROM

  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?

    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -71.858695
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -71.595651
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 41.359947
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 41.294745

  3. What does it look like?

    <https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2014/1224/data/botphotos/2013-005_298botphotos.gif> (GIF)
    Thumbnail image showing location and extent of bottom photo locations in the H12298 study area in Block Island Sound

  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?

    Beginning_Date: 17-Jun-2013
    Ending_Date: 19-Jun-2013
    Currentness_Reference: ground condition

  5. What is the general form of this data set?

    Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: raster digital data

  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?

    1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?

      This is a Raster data set.

    2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?

  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?

    Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:
    These are digital images with EXIF headers. We have not verified the accuracy of all the information in the EXIF headers.

Who produced the data set?

  1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)

  2. Who also contributed to the data set?

  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?

    Katherine McMullen
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Field and Laboratory Technician
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA 02543-1598
    USA

    (508) 548-8700 x2277 (voice)
    (508) 457-2310 (FAX)
    kmcmullen@usgs.gov

Why was the data set created?

The purpose of this dataset is to release the mid-resolution and full-resolution JPEG images of bottom photographs acquired with a small SEABOSS system during USGS survey 2013-005-FA in the H12298 study area in Block Island Sound.

How was the data set created?

  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?

    (source 1 of 1)
    Source_Contribution:
    The Mini SEABOSS (SEABed Observation and Sampling System) was designed specifically for the USGS Woods Hole Science Center's 26-foot research boat Rafael. This system is equipped with two video cameras (Subsea Video System color CCD camera and high-resolution B/W CCD camera), a digital still camera (Canon G12), and a Van Veen grab sampler. This system, weighing approximately 201 lbs, can be used to depths up to 40 meters, or 75 meters with extra electrical cable attached, as done in this cruise. The grab itself is raised and lowered with a 3/16-inch Aramid fiber winch-line with a breaking strength of 5,600 pounds. The davit is secured when the Mini SEABOSS is in the water. The electrical cable is on a spring-wound take-up reel with electrical slip rings that is mounted aft of the sampler. This arrangement protects the 0.38-in. multi-conductor cable and keeps the Mini SEABOSS correctly oriented with the boat. This multi-conductor cable enables communication between the ship's lab and the Mini SEABOSS system. The digital camera, a Canon G12, is mounted in a machined Delrin housing with a flat port and is set for 3648 x 2736 pixel images at the "fine" setting for compression. Photographs are stored in the camera on an SD card. The system also has a 50 Watt/second flash unit (Ikelite Digital Substrobe DS51) powered by 8 AA batteries. Two battery-powered lasers are set 15 cm apart for scale measurements. The red laser dots can usually be seen in the photo depending on the bottom type and the distance to the sea floor. A third battery powered laser is positioned at an angle so that when it intersects the other lasers, the Mini SEABOSS is at the optimum height off the bottom for a still photograph. The camera is set to a manual focus and set to a default focus distance once the camera is powered up. The default focus distance is slightly less than the optimum height above the seafloor to account for optical distortion under water.

  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?

    Date: 2013 (process 1 of 5)
    The USGS Mini SEABOSS system was deployed to capture still photos and video in the H12298 study area in Block Island Sound. This system was used to obtain 1 to 8 still photographs at each station as the R/V Rafael drifted over the seabed for 2 to 5 minutes. The third laser on the system was set to an angle such that the optimum photograph height was 60 cm. The default focus on the camera was set to 50 cm. The imaged area is most often within .3 to 1 meter from left to right. Other camera settings are as follows: aperture is set at f/8; shutter speed is 1/251 second; standard color mode. The camera time is set to GMT. A total of 159 images of the seafloor were acquired. Although the images themselves have no georeferencing information, the navigation related to each photograph is available in an Esri formatted shapefile: 2013-005_298botphotos.shp. These data can be downloaded from the following locations: <https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2014/1224/data/botphotos/2013-005_298botphotos.zip>; <https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2014/1224/html/ofr2014-1224-catalog.html>.

    Person who carried out this activity:

    Dann Blackwood
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Photographer
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA 02543-1598
    USA

    (508) 548-8700 x2227 (voice)
    (508) 457-2310 (FAX)
    dblackwood@usgs.gov

    Date: 2013 (process 2 of 5)
    The digital images were recorded on an SD memory card within the camera. The images were transferred from the camera to a hard drive at the end of each day in the field. This transfer was accomplished by removing the card from the camera and using a card reader connected to a Windows laptop.

    Person who carried out this activity:

    Larry Poppe
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA 02543
    USA

    (508) 548-8700 x2314 (voice)
    (508) 457-2310 (FAX)
    lpoppe@usgs.gov

    Date: 2013 (process 3 of 5)
    The original JPEG images were renamed from the sequential, camera automatic filename to a filename reflecting station location. This was done for each individual file in Windows Explorer.

    Person who carried out this activity:

    Katherine McMullen
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Field and Laboratory Technician
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA 02536
    USA

    508-548-8700 x2277 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    kmcmullen@usgs.gov

    Date: 2013 (process 4 of 5)
    The full-resolution JPEG images (3648 x 2736 pixels) were downsampled using Photoshop CS to create JPEG images with medium resolution (600 x 450 pixels) and thumbnails (150 x 113 pixels). The filename indicates the image resolution. For instance, the full-resolution JPEG image, 298_1a.jpg, was downsampled to produce medium-resolution JPEG image, 298_1amr.jpg, and thumbnail 298_1atn.jpg.

    Person who carried out this activity:

    Katherine McMullen
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Field and Laboratory Technician
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA 02543
    USA

    (508) 548-8700 x2277 (voice)
    (508) 457-2310 (FAX)
    kmcmullen@usgs.gov

    (process 5 of 5)
    The photo locations were exported from ArcMap 9.3.1 using XTools Pro 7.1 as a comma-delimited text file. The attributes chosen for export were: PHOTO, DATE_, LATITUDE, LONGITUDE, JDTIME. The text editor VI v 7.3 was used to reformat the output so that DATE_ was in the format YYYYMMDD, the extension .jpg was added to the photo name, and the Julian Day was removed from JDTIME. A Python version 2.7.3 script (kate_write_exif.py) was then run that incorporated this information, along with additional information, into the appropriate locations in the EXIF header of each full-resolution JPEG image. The PYTHON script uses ExifTool (version 8.4.7.0) to write the information to the image headers of the full-resolution images. The headers of the medium resolution and thumbnails were not modified. The full-resolution images will eventually be incorporated into the WHCMSC photo database and the EXIF header information is a requirement for the database.
    The following tags were populated in the JPEG image headers. Information is duplicated in some tags. This was done because different software packages access different tags.
    GPS tags: The values populated are unique for each image and based on the information exported from the photo locations shapefile. 
    GPSLatitudeRef
GPSLatitude
GPSLongitudeRef
GPSLongitude
GPSTimeStamp
GSPDateStamp
    JPEG tags: The tag is listed along with the information used to populate it - which is the same for every image. 
    Comment: Photo from down-looking camera on the USGS SEABOSS deployed from the R/V Rafael
during survey 2013-005-FA (<http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/ia/public_ds_info.php?fa=2005-004-FA>)
    EXIF tags: The tag is listed along with the information used to populate it - which is the same for every image. 
    ImageDescription: Photograph of the sea floor in western Block Island Sound in New York waters from survey 2013-005-FA
Artist: Katherine McMullen
Copyright: Public Domain - please credit U.S. Geological Survey
    IPTC tags: The tag is listed along with the information used to populate it - which is the same for every image. 
    Credit: U.S. Geological Survey
Contact: WHSC_data_contact@usgs.gov
Keywords: western Block Island Sound, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, 2013-005-FA, SEABOSS, sea floor, USGS
CopyrightNotice: Public Domain - please credit U.S. Geological Survey
Caption-Abstract: Photograph of the sea floor in western Block Island Sound in New York waters from survey 2013-005-FA
    XMP tags: The tag is listed along with the information used to populate it - which is the same for every image. 
    Caption: Photograph of the sea floor in western Block Island Sound in New York waters from survey 2013-005-FA
    To extract the information from the image headers using ExifTool, the following command can be used (tested with ExifTool version 9.4.6.0): exiftool.exe -csv -f -filename -GPSTimeStamp -GPSLongitude -GPSLatitude -n -Artist -Credit -comment -keywords -Caption -Copyright -CopyrightNotice -Caption-Abstract -ImageDescription imgtest/*.jpg > out.csv
    The -csv flag writes the information out in a comma-delimited format. The -n option formats the latitude and longitude as signed decimal degrees.

    Person who carried out this activity:

    VeeAnn Cross
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Marine Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA 02543
    USA

    (508) 548-8700 x2251 (voice)
    (508) 457-2310 (FAX)
    vatnipp@usgs.gov

  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?

    Blackwood, D.S., and Parolski, K.F., 2001, Seabed observation and sampling system: Sea Technology February 2001, v. 44, no. 2, Sea Technology.

    Valentine, P.C., Blackwood, D.S., and Parolski, K.F., 2002, Seabed observation and sampling system: Fact Sheet 142-00, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

    Poppe, L.J., Danforth, W.W., McMullen, K.Y., Blankenship, M.A., Glomb, K.A., Wright, D.B., and Smith, S.M., 2014, Sea-floor character and sedimentary processes of Block Island Sound, offshore Rhode Island: Open-File Report 2012-1005, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details: DVD-ROM
    McMullen, K.Y., Poppe, L.J., Ackerman, S.D., Blackwood, D.S., Lewit, P.G., and Parker, C.E., 2013, Sea-floor geology in northeastern Block Island Sound, Rhode Island: Open-File Report 2013-1003, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details: DVD-ROM
    McMullen, K.Y., Poppe, L.J., Ackerman, S.D., Blackwood, D.S., Glomb, K.A., and Wood, D.A., 2014, Sea-floor geology in northwestern Block Island Sound, Rhode Island Open-File Report: Open-File Report 2014-1018, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details: DVD-ROM
    McMullen, K.Y., Poppe, L.J., Danforth, W.W., Blackwood, D.S., Clos, A.R., and Parker, C.E., 2014, Sea-floor morphology and sedimentary environments of western Block Island Sound, northeast of Gardiners Island, New York: Open-File Report 2014-1160, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details: DVD-ROM
    Poppe, L.J., DiGiacomo-Cohen, M.L., Doran, E.F., Smith, S.M., Stewart, H.F., and Forfinski, N.A., 2007, Geologic interpretation and multibeam bathymetry of the sea floor in the vicinity of the Race, eastern Long Island Sound: Open-File Report 2007-1012, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details: 1 DVD-ROM

How reliable are the data; what problems remain in the data set?

  1. How well have the observations been checked?

  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?

  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?

  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?

    All 159 images of the sea floor in the H12298 study area collected on R/V Rafael cruise 2013-005-FA with the mini SEABOSS system are included. Other photographs were collected during cruise 2013-005-FA that lie outside the study area. The naming convention for photographs is a 3-number location identification (298, referring to NOAA Survey H12298 in Block Island Sound), underscore, the station number, and a letter of the photograph at that station (multiple photos are often taken at a single location), and the resolution of the photograph if it is not full resolution (mr for medium resolution, and tn for thumbnail). For instance, 298_34amr.jpg is a photograph from Survey H12298, station 34, photo a, medium resolution and is in JPEG format.

  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?

How can someone get a copy of the data set?

Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?

Access_Constraints: None
Use_Constraints:
Public domain data from the U.S. Government are freely redistributable with proper metadata and source attribution. Please recognize the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) as the source of this information.

  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)

    Katherine McMullen
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Field and Laboratory Technician
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA 02543-1598
    USA

    (508) 548-8700 x2277 (voice)
    (508) 457-2310 (FAX)
    kmcmullen@usgs.gov

  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set?

    Downloadable Data: WinZipped files of medium-resolution images (45 MB) - mid-res.zip WinZipped files of full-resolution images (361 MB) - full-res.zip WinZipped files of thumbnail-resolution images (3 MB) - thumbnails.zip

  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?

    Neither the U.S. Government, the Department of the Interior, nor the USGS, nor the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), nor any of their employees, contractors, or subcontractors, make any warranty, express or implied, nor assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, nor represent that its use would not infringe on privately owned rights. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the USGS or NOAA in the use of these data or related materials. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

  4. How can I download or order the data?

  5. What hardware or software do I need in order to use the data set?

    These data are available as JPEG images. To utilize these data, the user must have an image viewer capable of opening JPEG images.

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 22-Jan-2015
Metadata author:
Katherine McMullen
U.S. Geological Survey
Field and Laboratory Technician
384 Woods Hole Road
Woods Hole, MA 02543-1598
USA

(508) 548-8700 x2277 (voice)
(508) 457-2310 (FAX)
kmcmullen@usgs.gov

Metadata standard:
FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)
Metadata extensions used:

Generated by mp version 2.9.6 on Thu Jan 22 07:15:32 2015