Seafloor diver-acquired images from the Long Island Sound Phase IIB area (1975-1993, 2023)

This data set contains both historical and recent diver-acquired images of the Phase II area of the Long Island Sound Cable Fund Seafloor Habitat Mapping Initiative. It comprises 277 historical and 392 recent diver-acquired images. The 277 historical images were acquired from 1975 to 1993 in several areas within the larger Phase II area, including Beebe Cove, the Deep Hole east of Latimer Reef, Ellis Reef, Latimer Reef, New London Dump Site, North Dumpling, Race Rock and Ram Island Reef. The historical images were taken by Dr. Peter Auster and Robert DeGoursey of the University of Connecticut over the course of multiple research projects. A variety of analog underwater cameras and lenses was used with Kodachrome or Ektachrome slide transparency film. Images were mounted as standard 35 mm slides. These slides were subsequently digitized using a Nikon Super Coolscan 4000 ED film scanner into JPEG format files and analyzed for presence of epifaunal taxa. The 392 recent diver-acquired images were taken in May, June and August, 2023. Four sites were chosen, two that provided a direct comparison to the historical diver-collected imagery (Ellis Reef and Ram Island Reef) and two (Stratford Shoal and Northern Stratford Shoal) that provided new imagery to compare to that taken during the Phase I project (2012 and 2013). The images were taken by Dr. Peter Auster of the University of Connecticut/Sea Research Foundation using an Olympus TG6 digital underwater camera with Keldan CR196 video lights used in handheld mode and a SONY RX100 III digital camera in a Sea & Sea-RX100 III underwater housing while mounted on a quadrapod frame with Light and Motion SOLAS lights. The quadrapod-mounted camera produced images covering 0.25 m2. A total of 190 handheld images and 343 quadrapod images were acquired, with 53 and 40 of these images reviewed for presence of key taxa, respectively. The images are in JPEG format. Funding was provided by the Long Island Sound Cable Fund Seafloor Habitat Mapping Initiative administered cooperatively by the EPA Long Island Sound Study and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP).