Geotagged images of sediment grabs collected in the vicinity of Buffalo Reef, Michigan, within Lake Superior during USGS Field Activity 2021-005-FA using the USGS MiniSEABOSS (JPEG images; GCS WGS 84)

STEP 1: COLLECT SEDIMENT SAMPLES WITH THE MINISEABOSS.
A geophysical and geological sampling survey (field activity 2021-005-FA) was conducted in Lake Superior, Michigan, in August 2021. The R/V Rafael occupied preselected target sites, and the MiniSEABOSS was deployed off the vessel's port side from a davit just aft of the cabin. The MiniSEABOSS was equipped with a modified Van Veen grab sampler, Canon PowerShot G12 digital still camera, an independent strobe, an oblique downward-looking monochrome video camera with a topside feed and a dive light to illuminate the lakebed for photograph collection. The elements of this particular MiniSEABOSS were held within a stainless-steel frame that measured ~1 x 1 meter. The frame had a stabilizer fin that oriented the system as it drifted over the lakebed. Two red lasers were set 20 centimeters apart (both as they were mounted on the MiniSEABOSS frame and as seen in photographs and video on the lake) for scale measurements. The red laser dots can usually be seen in the lakebed photos depending on the bottom type and distance to the bottom. The winch operator lowered the MiniSEABOSS until the lakebed was observed in the topside live video feed. Generally, the vessel and MiniSEABOSS drifted with wind and current for up to a few minutes to ensure a decent photo with a clear view of the lakebed was acquired. The Canon camera was triggered manually by an operator watching the video stream. The photographed area is usually 0.5 to 1.25 meters (across) from left to right. Bottom video used to guide the photo-taking and avoid obstacles was not recorded. Fourteen sites did not have any usable photographs. After photographs were taken, the winch operator lowered the Van Veen grab sampler until it rested on the bottom. When the system was raised, the Van Veen grab sampler closed and collected a sample as it was lifted off the lakebed. The sampler was recovered to the deck of the survey vessel where a photograph of the undisturbed sample in the Van Veen grab sampler was taken before it was subsampled and bagged for further sediment analyses. During the survey, DGPS navigation from a Hemisphere R131 DGPS receiver was logged through a serial connection to a computer running the Global Mapper software package to visualize and record the vessel's spatial location throughout the sampling survey. The DGPS was set to receive fixes at a 1-second interval in geographic coordinates (WGS 84). Dates and times were recorded in UTC. Log files were saved for each survey in NMEA text format.

Step 2: CULL AND RENAME PHOTOGRAPHS.
The sample photos were culled to include just one of each topside sample image. The photos were manually renamed by pre-pending the name sampling site on the sequential camera-named photos (e.g. the photo from sampling site 2021-005-002 became 2021-005-002_DSB_8189.JPG; where 2021-005 is part of the field activity number, 002 is the sequential sampling site number, and DSB_8189.JPG is the original Nikon filename of the photo).

STEP 3: GEOTAGGED PHOTOGRAPHS.
The JPEG images do not represent spatial data; however, they were geotagged by linking the image to the sediment analyses spreadsheet which included the position information for each sediment sample. Geotagging these photos provides the spatial location where the sediment sample was collecting and embeds that information into the header of each JPEG image. The photos were geotagged by preparing a csv text file with the following columns of data for each image:
SourceFile,GPSDateStamp,GPSTimeStamp,GPSLatitude,GPSLatitudeRef,GPSLongitude,GPSLongitudeRef
Then exiftool (version 12.30) was used to geotag the images: exiftool -csv=photosampleinfo.csv .

Step 4: Incorporated survey information into the photos' header metadata.
Additional survey information was incorporated into the metadata embedded in the header of each JPEG image. Images may have different metadata formats embedded in their headers, and the commands below incorporated survey information into the following three image metadata formats: Exchangeable image file format (Exif), International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC), and Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP). The second command below duplicates values from Exif and IPTC metadata tags to XMP tags because various software packages read different tags. Please note that only a subset of these tags may be accessed depending on the software used to view the image metadata.
Command to incorporate survey information into the metadata embedded in the header of each JPEG image using ExifTool (version 12.30):
exiftool -IPTC:Credit="U.S. Geological Survey" -IPTC:Contact="WHSC_data_contact@usgs.gov" -EXIF:Copyright="Public Domain" -XMP: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." -EXIF:ImageDescription="https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2021-005-FA;Photograph of the USGS MiniSEABOSS VanVeen grab sampler upon recovery during field activity 2021-005-FA; Lake Superior; Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan" -XMP:AttributionURL="https://doi.org/10.5066/P9NJY125" -EXIF:GPSAreaInformation="position post-processed from when the sample was collected as determined by a nearby GPS; this is not necessarilyarily the location that the photo was taken" -EXIF:GPSMapDatum="EPSG:4326 (WGS 84)" -overwrite_original -P *.JPG
Command to duplicate metadata from the Exif and IPTC formats to XMP using ExifTool:
exiftool -P -m "-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" -overwrite_original *.JPG
The following metadata tags were populated in the JPEG image header using the above ExifTool commands:
Exif tags and the information used to populate these tags:
Artist: Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center (WHCMSC) Sea Floor Mapping Group (SFMG) Copyright: Public Domain GPSAreaInformation: position post-processed from when the sample was collected as determined by a nearby GPS; this is not necessarily the location that the photo was taken GPSMapDatum: EPSG:4326 (WGS 84) ImageDescription: https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2021-005-FA;Photograph of the USGS MiniSEABOSS VanVeen grab sampler upon recovery during field activity 2021-005-FA; Lake Superior; Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan
IPTC tags and the information used to populate these tags:
Contact: WHSC_data_contact@usgs.gov Credit: U.S. Geological Survey
XMP tags and the information used to populate these tags:
AttributionURL: https://doi.org/10.5066/P9NJY125 Creator: duplicated from Exif Artist CreatorWorkEmail: duplicated from IPTC Contact Credit: duplicated from IPTC Credit DateCreated: duplicated from Exif DateTimeOriginal Description: duplicated from Exif ImageDescription GPSAreaInformation: duplicated from Exif GPSAreaInformation by copying all the Exif GPS tags to the same-named tags in XMP (-XMP-exif:all<GPS:all) GPSDateTime: duplicated using the composite of Exif GPSDateStamp and Exif GPSTimeStamp GPSLatitude: duplicated using the composite of Exif GPSLatitude and Exif GPSLatitudeRef GPSLongitude: duplicated using the composite of Exif GPSLongitude and Exif GPSLongitudeRef GPSMapDatum: duplicated from Exif GPSMapDatum by copying all the Exif GPS tags to the same-named tags in XMP (-XMP-exif:all<GPS:all) Make: duplicated from Exif Make Model: duplicated from Exif Model ModifyDate: duplicated from Exif ModifyDate PreservedFileName: original image file name, which is unique for each image Rights: duplicated from Exif Copyright 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.
To extract the geotagging and survey information (except for the duplicated tags) from the image metadata using ExifTool, the following command can be used (tested with ExifTool version 12.30):
exiftool -csv -filename -EXIF:GPSTimeStamp -EXIF:GPSDateStamp -GPSLatitude -GPSLongitude -n -IPTC:Credit -IPTC:Contact -EXIF:Copyright -XMP:UsageTerms -EXIF:ImageDescription -XMP:AttributionURL -EXIF:GPSAreaInformation -EXIF:GPSMapDatum -EXIF:Artist *.JPG > out.csv
The "-csv" option writes the information to a CSV file. The "-n" option formats the latitude and longitude as signed decimal degrees. Please note that the above command was tested on macOS; Windows users may need to use "exiftool.exe" instead of "exiftool."