USGS CoastCam CACO-02 at Marconi Beach, Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts (2021, 2023, 2024): Imagery Data

Before mounting the CoastCam at the beach, the cameras (FLIR Blackfly S) were used to take intrinsic camera calibration images. Please refer to the CACO02_calibration_metadata record included in this data release for more information on the calibration process. The camera system consists of two FLIR Blackfly S cameras which were installed on a bluff overlooking Marconi Beach, approximately 200 meters north of the staircase landing on 20210304, 20230213 and 20240105. The cameras were deployed on a telescoping mast and aligned for an approximate 15 degrees overlapping view. The cameras are connected to an Intel NUC acquisition and control computer, powered by a solar charging system comprised of lithium batteries, a Renogy Voyager solar charge controller, and Renogy 100W solar panels. Intrinsic calibration was processed by A.M.Z. Lange.

The camera was programmed to collect three-band (red-green-blue) images for 17 minutes at 2Hz every half hour during daylight hours. The images included in this data release were collected from March 4th 2021 to June 3rd 2021, February 13th 2023 to July 20th 2023 and January 5th 2024, to September 8th 2024. Gaps may exist in each dataset due to camera malfunction. Additionally, some images may have been obscured by water droplets, insects, birds, salt, sand and dirt, poor visibility from adverse weather conditions, or sun glare, and thus may not reflect the true state of the beach and ocean. Each time the camera was activated, there were five resultant image products collected: the "snapshot" ("snap") image is the first frame of the video; the time exposure ("timex") image is the average of all frames within the 17 minute video; the "variance" ("var") image shows the standard deviation of pixel intensity throughout the video; the brightest ("bright") image shows the brightest pixel values throughout the video; and the darkest ("dark") image shows the darkest pixel values throughout the video. The local control computer acquires, produces, and stores the images and products and twice per hour syncs data to the AWS cloud server. The data is transmitted to the remote storage server via a Sierra Wireless cellular modem. Step was processed by C.R. Sherwood.

The images acquired with the camera were geotagged and processed to add additional information required by the USGS to the exchangeable image file format (EXIF) and other imagery headers using PyExifTool Python library (https://pypi.org/project/PyExifTool/, version: 0.5.6) and the files were renamed to a unique identifier based on the established Argus naming convention to avoid any possibility of duplicate names. The images were given EXIF header information in the directory with all the photos by assigning all the tags in a Python dictionary object to each photo using PyExifTool. The following describes the Python dictionary object with each entry in the dictionary being a tag-value pair: tags = { 'Copyright': 'Public Domain', 'CopyrightNotice': 'Public Domain - please credit U.S. Geological Survey', 'Artist': 'USGS WHCMSC', 'Make': 'FLIR', 'Camera Model Name': 'Blackfly S','UserComment': UserComment, 'GPSLatitude': '41 deg 53' 33.44 N', 'GPSLongitude': '69 deg 57' 47.50 W', 'GPSMapDatum': 'EPSG:6318 NAD83 (2011)', 'GPSAreaInformation': 'surveyed with RTK-GNSS', 'GPSLatitudeRef': 'North', 'GPSLongitudeRef': 'West', 'Credit': 'U.S. Geological Survey', 'Contact': 'whsc_data_contact@usgs.gov', 'UsageTerms': "Unless otherwise stated, all data, metadata and related materials are considered to satisfy the quality standards relative to the purpose for which the data were collected. Although these data and associated metadata have been reviewed for accuracy and completeness and approved for release by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the display or utility of the data for other purposes, nor on all computer systems, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty", 'AttributionURL': 'https://doi.org/10.5066/P17OF3UP', 'Contributor': 'Athina M.Z. Lange, Jin-Si R. Over, Christopher R. Sherwood', 'XMP-photoshop:Credit': 'U.S. Geological Survey', 'iptcCore:CreatorWorkEmail': 'whsc_data_contact@usgs.gov','Rights': 'Public Domain', ExternalMetadataLink:, 'https://www1.usgs.gov/pir/api/identifiers/USGS:67a4c0c3d34e63325c2b79fa', 'ImageDescription': 'https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/services/activity.php?fan=2024-002-FA; This image was captured from a stationary camera (CACO-02 c#) at Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts. Field Activity Number: 2024-002-FA.', 'Description': 'https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/services/activity.php?fan=2024-002-FA; This image was captured from a stationary camera (CACO-02 c#) at Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts. Field Activity Number: 2024-002-FA.'}.
All of the previously listed tags were the same for each image, with different FANs depending on the deployment. Additionally, there were tags added to the Python dictionary object that would have a different value for each image depending on factors such as the file type and/or date when the image was captured.
These tags and an example value are included as follows, as well as a description for why the values differ, as needed: 'PreservedFileName': '1718201520.Wed.Jun.12_14_12_00.GMT.2024.caco-02.c1.snap.jpg'; 'Caption-Abstract': 'The snapshot image represents the first frame of the 17 minute video. This image was captured from a stationary camera (CACO-02 c1) at Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts, Field Activity Number: 2024-002-FA (https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/services/activity.php?fan=2024-002-FA) on 2024-06-12 14:12:00+00:00 UTC. For more info, see https://www.usgs.gov/centers/whcmsc/science/using-video-imagery-study-marconi-beach.', 'Caption': 'The snapshot image taken at CACO-02 c1 at Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts, USA on 2024-06-12 14:12:00+00:00 UTC', 'Comment': 'Snapshot image for 2024-06-12 14:12:00+00:00 UTC; This image was captured from a stationary camera (CACO-02 c1) at Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts. Field Activity Number: 2024-002-FA'. 'Keywords': "Marconi Beach, Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts, CoastCam, USGS, snapshot, remote sensing".
All the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) images were renamed to ensure unique filenames and compliance with the USGS Coastal and Marine Hazard and Resources Program's (CMHRP) best practices for image naming convention. Images were renamed with the image acquisition date and Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) in computer and human readable format, the camera location, the camera number, and the image type that distinguishes among the five image product types. For example, image name '1718201520.Wed.Jun.12_14_12_00.GMT.2024.caco-02.c1.snap.jpg', where 1718201520 is the 10-digit epoch time convention of the date and time, Wed is the three character day of the week, Jun is the three character month, 12 is the two digit day of the month, 14_12_00 is the GMT time in HH_MM_SS format, 2024 is the year, caco-02 is the camera location, c1 is the camera number, and snap is the image type. The UserComment EXIF metadata field was used to store the camera intrinsics and extrinsics in the image metadata.
The UserComment has a nested dictionary structure. The highest-level dictionary contains two nested dictionaries as well as a note explaining the structure of the UserComment field. One nested dictionary contains the relevant intrinsic (NU, NV, coU, coV, fx, fy, d1, d2, d3, t1, t2) and extrinsic (x, y, z, azimuth, tilt, roll) data variables. See CACO02_calibration_metadata for descriptions of variables. The extrinsic variables include both horizontal and vertical location of the camera in NAD83(2011)/UTM 19N + NAVD88 (GEOID 18). We recommend to the user to calculate their own EO data based on the dates of the imagery used. The other nested dictionary contains text descriptions for each of the variables in the dictionary of data variables. The calibration date and GPS DateStamp field indicates the date of the EO. The field activity numbers in the Image Description and Description are relative to the deployment; 2021: 2021-019-FA and 2021-022-FA; and 2024: 2024-002-FA.
The camera pole location was surveyed with RTK gear, which gives us the UTM and Lat/Long simultaneously in the file we download off of the device. The EXIF GPS Latitude/Longitude/Position tags are in NAD83(2011).
To read out the imagery header information to a comma-separated values (CSV) file with exiftool, the command is: 'exiftool -csv *.jpg > .\ allheaders.csv'. Specific tags may be specified with this command, if preferred. Step processed by A.M.Z. Lange.

A total of 81,613 JPEG images are included in this release and can be searched, viewed and downloaded on the USGS IDS here: https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/idsviewer/data_release/10.5066-P17OF3UP. There are 17,844 JPEG images from the 2021 deployment, 31,479 JPEG images from the 2023 deployment, and 32,290 JPEG images from the 2024 deployment. The images on the IDS are sorted by default from newest to oldest date collected and can also be browsed by collection: CACO02_EO, CACO02_IO, CACO02_c1_bright, CACO02_c1_dark, CACO02_c1_snap, CACO02_c1_timex, CACO02_c1_var, CACO02_c2_bright, CACO02_c2_dark, CACO02_c2_snap, CACO02_c2_timex, and CACO02_c2_var. The complete collection or a select subset of the images can be downloaded from the IDS. A complete list of image names and original datetime are provided in CACO02_imageProducts.csv. An example subset of this image collection can be downloaded from the data release webpage (https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/67a4c1c8d34e63325c2b7a01). Step processed by J.R. Over.