Landscape and vegetation photos and ground truthing data collected on North Core Banks, NC in October 2022

Vegetation sampling process is as follows. At New Pond 0, New Pond 1, and New Pond 3 fifty random points were generated in ArcPro (v. 3.0) within each region of interest using the Create Random Points tool. Not all of the 150 points generated were accessible by foot – obstacles such as deep water, thick poison ivy, and dense brush prevented every point from being surveyed. At each point visited, a PVC quadrat was laid on the ground and three types of photographs were collected: a “context” photo for the quadrat within the nearby landscape; a top-down view of the area within the quadrat; and a view of the SP80 logger during quadrat data collection to help tie the surveyed quadrat measurements to the smartphone photos (contain “logger” in the image name). An additional photo was taken depending on the ground cover type: a detailed view of the sand within the quadrat with a quarter for scale (contains “sand” in the image name) or a photo of the SP80 pole and ruler next to the vegetation in the quadrat (contains “vegheight” in the image name). A GPS point was taken at each point and can be tied to the photo based on the PhotoRefID attribute and number in the image name. The geographic setting (example: dune, marsh, washover) of the quadrat was also noted before more detailed notes on the ground cover were taken. The substrate and vegetation type, density, and height were recorded when applicable. Visual vegetation density measurements were aided by percent cover guides, such as Terry and Chilingar, 1955. Terry, R.D. and Chilingar, G.V., 1955. Summary of" Concerning some additional aids in studying sedimentary formations," by MS Shvetsov. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 25(3), pp.229-234.

Additional ground truthing was done, but rather than random points, cross-shore transects and points in and around the ponds were collected. For these points, identified with the attribute TRAN# or POND, ground cover information was secondary. Where vegetation density is provided, “0” means that the vegetation density was less than 20% and a “20” means that the vegetation density was greater than 20%. Landscape photos were taken throughout the field activity to give context to the study sites and include USGS personnel, vegetation, pond, animal, and beach context.

Vegetation data was merged with all GPS points into CSV files separated by date. Final quadrat and landscape photos were renamed to add the field activity number, location, and description. Additional header data for photo credit, description, location, and contact information was added into each image using ExifTools (https://exiftool.org/, version: 12.06). Landscape photos were zipped into folders by the date they were taken and quadrat photos were zipped into a single folder.