Seabed still images in JPEG format with EXIF location information collected by the U.S. Geological Survey on Stellwagen Bank during six surveys aboard the R/V Auk, May 2016 to April 2019

Seabed video imagery was collected using two battery-operated, high-definition (1920 x 1080 pixels) GoPro digital video cameras and a Seaviewer high-definition (1920 x 720 pixels) digital camera mounted on SEABOSS. The SeaViewer camera had a live feed to the surface and was used only to observe obstacles, like gill nets and lobster gear, in order to avoid entanglement. In the case of camera failure, the additional cameras provided backup video. All images collected here were acquired with a GoPro camera. As the SEABOSS drifted over the seabed, the cameras imaged the seabed at a rate of 60 frames per second from an altitude of ~1 meter. Lighting was provided by two battery-operated Keldan LED video lights. Each light provided a light flux of up to 9000 lumens at a correlated color temperature of 5000 kelvins. Two parallel red lasers mounted 20 centimeters apart provided a scale in the video images.
Video imagery includes the launch of the SEABOSS, transit through the water column, and the drift over the seabed. The duration of 233 individual video files ranges from 3.5 to 17.75 minutes. Video files are archived in .MP4 format and range in size from 0.8 to 3.9 gigabytes.
These video files are not part of this data release. Video files are archived at the USGS Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, 384 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, MA 02543.
Data were collected from 2016 to 2019 with the process date representing the most recent acquisition year.

Video frame-grab images were extracted from high-definition (1920 x 1080 pixels) GoPro digital video using open source VLC Media Player software (version 2.0.0) developed by the VideoLAN project ( http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html ).
Two video frame-grab images are provided for each station. One image (staXXXX_1) shows a broad view of the landscape as the SEABOSS drifted over the seabed. The second image (staXXXX_2) shows a close-up of the seabed as the SEABOSS was stationary during the collection of the sediment sample. Where visible, the two parallel red lasers mounted 20 cm apart provide a scale.
Data were collected from 2016 to 2019 with the process date representing the most recent acquisition year.

Using the station data summary CSV file for each field activity, the approximate time and location of each photo during that field activity was derived. The location (latitude and longitude), date, and time for each station was extracted from the CSV file. This information was reformatted using an AWK script so that the following columns of information were available: image name (based on the station number), latitude, longitude, GPS time (in the format HH:MM:SS), and GPS date (in the format YYYYMMDD). This information was written to a new CSV file. This process was repeated for each of the six field activities.

A Python notebook (EXIF_headers.ipynb) was run that incorporated the information from an individual field activity image locations file *-FA_seabedimage_locations.csv where the * represents the field activity number) along with additional information into the appropriate tags in the EXIF header of each seabed image. Although the two images from each station are not from the exact same place, the same location information was populated in each station's photos. Then the IPython Notebook (using Python version 3.8.8) was executed from a Jupyter Notebook (version 6.3.0) running under Anaconda version 3 on a Windows 10 machine. The Python script uses ExifTool (version 11.54) to write survey information to the image headers of the full-resolution images. The following tags were populated in the JPEG image headers. Information is duplicated in some tags because different software packages access different tags.
GPS tags: The values populated are unique for each station image and based on the information exported from *-FA_station_data_summary.csv to the *-FA_seabedimage_location.csv.

GPSLatitudeRef
GPSLatitude
GPSLongitudeRef
GPSLongitude
GPSTimeStamp
GPSDateStamp

Two other elements that are unique for each image (and will actually have the same value) are the XMP tags for the original filename.

OriginalFileName
PreservedFileName

JPEG tag: The tag is listed along with the information used to populate it, which is the same for every image of a given field activity. The example below is from field activity 2016-012-FA. The DOI number is the same for all the field activities and represents this data release.

Comment: Video frame grab image from a GoPro digital video camera mounted on the USGS SEABOSS deployed from the R/V Auk during survey 2016-012-FA (https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2016-012-FA) .

EXIF tags: The tag is listed along with the information used to populate it, which is the same for every image.

ImageDescription: https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2016-012-FA; Video frame grab image from a GoPro digital video camera on Stellwagen Bank, MA from survey 2016-012-FA 
Artist: Page C. Valentine
Copyright: Public Domain - please credit U.S. Geological Survey
UserComment: Image part of USGS data release https://doi.org/10.5066/P9ERNGJ2
Make: GoPro
GPSAreaInformation: Position post-processed from GPS on ship
GPSMapDatum: EPSG:4326 (WGS 84)

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: Stellwagen Bank, Massachusetts, 2016-012-FA, SEABOSS, sea floor, USGS, ground-truth, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9ERNGJ2
CopyrightNotice: Public Domain - please credit U.S. Geological Survey
Caption-Abstract: Video frame grab image of the sea floor on Stellwagen Bank, MA from survey 2016-012-FA

XMP tags: The tag is listed along with the information used to populate it, which is the same for every image of a given field activity. Three tags described elsewhere (ImageUniqueID, OriginalFileName, and PreservedFileName), are unique for each image.

Caption: Video frame grab image of the sea floor on Stellwagen Bank, MA from survey 2016-012-FA
AttributionURL: https://doi.org/10.5066/P9ERNGJ2
Author: Page C. Valentine
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.

Another script run in Python Notebooks (Image_PIDwork.ipnb) was used to mint a unique persistent identifier (image PID) for each image and placed in the header. Additionally, the persistent URL for the metadata record associated with this dataset was also inserted into the image header.

XMP tag:

ImageUniqueID: unique for each image
ExternalMetadataLink: https://www1.usgs.gov/pir/api/identifiers/620d4fa1d34e6c7e83ba9aca

From the command-line in Cygwin, the image name was also added to the header with the following command: exiftool -P "-originalfilename<Filename" *.jpg

From the command-line in Cygwin, the image name was also added to another element in the header with the following command: exiftool.exe -P "-XMP:PreservedFileName<Filename" *.jpg

Finally, another command run from the command line in order to duplicate information to appropriate XMP headers:
exiftool -P "-XMP-photoshop:Credit<IPTC:Credit" "-XMP-iptcCore:CreatorWorkEmail<IPTC:Contact" "-XMP-dc:Rights<EXIF:Copyright" "-XMP-dc:Description<EXIF:ImageDescription" "-XMP-exif:all<GPS:all" "-XMP-exif:GPSLatitude<Composite:GPSLatitude" "-XMP-exif:GPSLongitude<Composite:GPSLongitude" "-XMP-exif:GPSDateTime<Composite:GPSDateTime" "-XMP-photoshop:DateCreated<EXIF:DateTimeOriginal" "-XMP-xmp:ModifyDate<EXIF:ModifyDate" "-XMP-dc:Creator<EXIF:Artist" "-XMP-tiff:Make<EXIF:Make" "-XMP-tiff:Model<EXIF:Model" *.jpg

To extract the information (except for OriginalFileName, PreservedFileName, and the duplicated tags) from the image headers using ExifTool, the following example command can be used (tested with ExifTool version 11.54, slight modifications of the command might be necessary depending on the operating system of the user):

exiftool.exe -csv -f -filename -GPSTimeStamp -GPSDateStamp -GPSLongitude -GPSLatitude -n -GPSAreaInformation -GPSMapDatum -ImageDescription -Artist -Credit -comment -contact -keywords -Caption -Copyright -CopyrightNotice -Caption-Abstract -UserComment -AttributionURL -UsageTerms -Author -ImageUniqueID -ExternalMetadataLink *.jpg > out.csv

The -csv option writes the information out in a comma-delimited format. The -n option formats the latitude and longitude as signed decimal degrees. Whether you use exiftool or exiftool.exe will depend on the system on which the command is being run.