Interpretation of the sidescan sonar mosaic from the study area off new London, CT

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Frequently anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title:
Interpretation of the sidescan sonar mosaic from the study area off new London, CT
Abstract:
This data layer is an interpretation of the sidescan sonar mosaic from the study area off New London, CT.
  1. How might this data set be cited?
    Zajac, Roman N., 2000, Interpretation of the sidescan sonar mosaic from the study area off new London, CT: Open-File Report 2000-304, U.S. Geological Survey, Woods Hole Field Center, Woods Hole, MA.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details:
    Roman N. Zajac was the compiler of this individual dataset. The accompanying chapter in the OFR includes the authors Ralph S. Lewis, Lawrence J. Poppe, David C. Twichell, Joseph Vozarik, Mary L. DiGiacomo-Cohen, and Matt Robinson.
    This is part of the following larger work.

    Paskevich, Valerie, and Poppe, Larry, 2000, Georeferenced sea-floor mapping and bottom photography in Long Island Sound: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 00-304, U.S. Geological Survey, Woods Hole Field Center, Woods Hole, MA.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details:
    Valerie F. Paskevich and Lawrenc J. Poppe are the editors of the publication which contains 12 individual chapters with various authors.
  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -72.1383
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -72.0307
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 41.3143
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 41.2512
  3. What does it look like?
    http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/of00-304/htmldocs/images/browse/nlmosint.gif (GIF)
    image showing the extent of the GIS layer and interpretation of the sidescan sonar mosaic from the study area off new London, CT
  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?
    Beginning_Date: 1992
    Ending_Date: 2000
    Currentness_Reference:
    data acquisition
  5. What is the general form of this data set?
  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
    1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?
      This is a Vector data set. It contains the following vector data types (SDTS terminology):
      • GT-polygon composed of chains (56)
    2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?
      Grid_Coordinate_System_Name: Universal Transverse Mercator
      Universal_Transverse_Mercator:
      UTM_Zone_Number: 18
      Transverse_Mercator:
      Scale_Factor_at_Central_Meridian: 0.999600
      Longitude_of_Central_Meridian: -075.000000
      Latitude_of_Projection_Origin: +00.000000
      False_Easting: 500000
      False_Northing: 0
      Planar coordinates are encoded using coordinate pair
      Abscissae (x-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 40
      Ordinates (y-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 40
      Planar coordinates are specified in Meters
      The horizontal datum used is North American Datum of 1983.
      The ellipsoid used is GRS80.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378137.00.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/298.257222101.
  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?
    nlmosint.dbf
    Shapefile attribute file (Source: ESRI)
    Area
    Area of polygon (Source: software computed)
    Range of values
    Minimum:2.042969
    Maximum:932280.000000
    Units:meters
    Perimeter
    Perimeter of polygon (Source: software computed)
    Range of values
    Minimum:7.405486
    Maximum:80338.270000
    Units:meters
    Mosaic_
    Carried over from the ArcInfo attribute MOSAIC#. MOSAIC# is an ArcInfo internal control parameter and has no applicable relevance to the use of the data. (Source: software computed)
    Range of values
    Minimum:2
    Maximum:57
    Units:unknown
    Mosaic_id
    Carried over from the ArcInfo attribute MOSAIC-ID. MOSAIC-ID is an ArcInfo internal control parameter and has no applicable relevance to the use of the data. (Source: software computed)
    Range of values
    Minimum:2
    Maximum:57
    Newcode
    A numeric coding system used to describe the Sed_type (Source: User defined)
    Range of values
    Minimum:0
    Maximum:5
    Sed_type
    Gross lithologic description of the surficial sediments. (Source: User defined)
    ValueDefinition
    cmSands / Coarase Material
    fsMud/Muddy Sands
    mMixed Sediment, Rubble
    sbCoarse Sand/Sandwaves
    sgCoarase Sand, Cobbles, Boulders
    Size
    This attribute (Size) gives the areas of polygons in square meters. Same as area, but rounded to whole meters. (Source: Zajac, 1996)
    Range of values
    Minimum:2
    Maximum:92567160
    Units:meters
    Bndlngth
    Length of the contact between the polygon and the surrounding polygons. Same as perimeter, but rounded to the whole meters. (Source: User defined)
    Range of values
    Minimum:7
    Maximum:80338
    Units:meters
    Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:
    The original studies were conducted to describe the benthic communities in LIS; the corresponding data layer is presented to show the extent of the sidescan sonar mosaic off New London, in eastern Long Island Sound, and the distribution of habitats on the mosaic.
    Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation: Zajac, 1996

Who produced the data set?

  1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)
    • Roman N. Zajac
  2. Who also contributed to the data set?
  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
    Roman Zajac
    University of New Haven
    Professor
    Biological and Environmental Sciences
    University of New Haven
    300 Orange Avenue
    West Haven, CT
    USA

    (203) 932-7114 (voice)
    zajacrn@charger.newhaven.edu

Why was the data set created?

This data layer, which focuses on benthic communities, was developed as part of a cooperative project between the University of New Haven, the Connecticut DEP, and the U.S. Geological Survey. Benthic communities are an integral component of the ecology of LIS.
Understanding the role that spatial heterogeneity plays in the dynamic of benthic landscapes may be a key to developing a better understanding of the estuarine ecology and the impacts of huuman activity. The purpose of providing this data layer is to help establish a regional framework for developing a more extensive GIS for benthic communities in LIS that can be used for education, research, and environmental management.

How was the data set created?

  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?
    Zajac, 1996 (source 1 of 1)
    Zajac(comp.), R.N., 1996, Ecologic mapping and management-based analyses of benthic habitats and communities in Long Island Sound: Connecticut DEP, Hartford, CT.

    Type_of_Source_Media: paper
    Source_Contribution:
    Describes mapping and identification of benthic communities in eastern Long Island Sound
  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?
    Date: 1998 (process 1 of 3)
    Mapping was performed on a sidescan sonar survey. This survey was processed at 3,479-scale utilizing the U.S.G.S. Mini Image Processing system (MIPS) in an Equatorial Mercator Projection. Processing included bottom, ratio, and radiometric corrections; sectioning the survey area; "Geoming" individual map sections; "stenciling" and "mosaicing"; and building the final image. The shading convention for this mosaic is that dark tones are interpreted as fine sediment (fine sand, silt and clay); and light tones are interpreted as coarse sediment. Rough and "grainy" patches are interpreted as glacial drift or bedrock outcrops.The image files contained here have been modified, using Arc/Info software, from the three original TIFFs delivered by University of Rhode Island. The images were converted to grids, geo-referenced, and individually reclassified in a manner similar to linear stretching to account for variations in gray scales among the three sections of the mosaic. The grids were then converted back to TIFF format with world files in Latitude/Longitude decimal degrees (no projection). Pixel size is approximately 0.8 meters. Person who carried out this activity:
    Roman Zajac
    University of New Haven
    Professor
    Biological and Environemtal Sciences
    University of New Haven
    300 Orange Avenue
    West Haven, CT
    USA

    (203) 932-7114 (voice)
    zajacrn@charger.newhaven.edu
    Data sources used in this process:
    • Lewis and others 1998
    Date: Unknown (process 2 of 3)
    The outline of the mosaic was digitized in ArcInfo and the resultant data were converted into a shape file. The interpretation (polygons) was drawn manually on paper from sediment point data. These polygons were digitized in ArcInfo and the resultant data were converted into a shape file. Person who carried out this activity:
    R.N. Zajac
    University of New Haven
    Professor
    Biology and Environmental Sciences
    University of New Haven
    300 Orange Avenue
    West Haven, CT
    USA

    (203) 932-7114 (voice)
    Data sources produced in this process:
    • nlmosint.dbf
    • nlmosint.shp
    • nlmosint.shx
    Date: 26-Jun-2023 (process 3 of 3)
    Edits to the metadata were made to fix any errors that MP v 2.9.50 flagged. This is necessary to enable the metadata to be successfully harvested for various data catalogs. Additional small edits including (but not limited to) such as adding the edition element, fixing browse graphic information etc. were perfomed on the metadata. Author names were edited to remove "ed." and "comp". Added links to access the data including the DOI link. Added USGS Thesaurus keywords. Added keywords section with USGS persistent identifier as theme keyword (PID). Fixed the ellipsoid name to agree with the datum. Fixed the denominator of flattening ratio. The SED_TYPE attribute was updated to be an enumerated domain specifying the specific values. The definition was based on information in Chapter 10 of the Larger Work citation. The units defined in the figure were compared to the shapefile with the map legend definition applied in the attribute value. Updated the distribution liability. The distribution format name was modified in an attempt to be more consistent with other metadata files of the same data format. The metadata date (but not the metadata creator) was edited to reflect the date of these changes. A generic email in the metadata contact was used, along with adding contact instructions. These edits are not all the edits performed. Additional small edits such as adding the edition element as well as other edits were performed. The metadata available from a harvester may supersede metadata bundled within a download file. Compare the metadata dates to determine which metadata file is most recent. (20230626) Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: VeeAnn A. Cross
    Marine Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Rd.
    Woods Hole, MA
    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?
    Lewis(comp.), R.S, DiGiacomo-Cohen(comp.), M.L., and Twichell(comp.), D.C., 1998, Sidescan sonar image of the sea-floor off New London, Connecticut: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 98-502, U.S. Geological Survey, Woods Hole Field Center, Woods Hole, MA.

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

  1. How well have the observations been checked?
    Ship navigation was by differential GPS. Biological and Geological data have an assumed accuracy of about 10%.
  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?
    Ship navigation was by differential GPS assumped to be accurate to within 10 meters
  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
    No tidal corrections performed
  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
    None
  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?
    No additional checks for topological consistancy were performed on this data set.

How can someone get a copy of the data set?

Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?
Access_Constraints The University of New Haven and the U.S. Geological Survey must be referenced as the originator of the data set in any future products or as research derived from these data.
Although this derived data set and its lineage dataset have been used by the University of New Haven and the USGS, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by the University of New Haven or the USGS as to the accuracy of the data and/or related materials. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the University of New Haven or the USGS in the use of the data or related materials.
Use_Constraints None
  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)
    Roman Zajac
    University of New Haven
    Professor
    Biological and Environmental Sciences
    University of New Haven
    300 Orange Avenue
    West Haven, CT
    USA

    (203) 932-7114 (voice)
    zajacrn@charger.newhaven.edu
  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set? Long Island Sound: nlmosint.shp
  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?
    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.
  4. How can I download or order the data?
  5. Is there some other way to get the data?
    None
  6. What hardware or software do I need in order to use the data set?
    This layer is available in ArcView 3.2 format. Users must have ArcView 3.0 or later, or another GIS application capable of importing the data.

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 26-Jun-2023
Metadata author:
Larry Poppe
U. S. Geological Survey
geologist
384 Woods Hole Road
Woods Hole, MA
USA

(508) 548-8700 x2314 (voice)
(508) 457-2310 (FAX)
whsc_data_contact@usgs.gov
Contact_Instructions:
The metadata contact email address is a generic address in the event the person is no longer with the USGS.
Metadata standard:
FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)
This page is <https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/catalog/whcmsc/open_file_report/ofr2000-304/nomosint.faq.html>
Generated by mp version 2.9.51 on Mon Jun 26 11:24:41 2023