Seafloor ROV videos from the Long Island Sound Phase IIB area (1989-2006)

This data set contains digitized video clips collected between 1989-2006 by remotely-operated vehicles (ROV) within the Phase II area of the Long Island Sound Cable Fund Seafloor Habitat Mapping Initiative. They represent historical videos from the Northeast Underwater Research, Technology and Education Center (NURTEC) at the University of Connecticut video archive, therefore comprising one element of the historical baseline of the Assessing Ecological Change and Resiliency (AECR) project in Long Island Sound. These 24 historical videos were recorded on analog (VHS) and digital (DVCAM) video tapes by three ROVs (Benthos MiniRover MKII, Deep Ocean Engineering Phantom 300, modified DOE Phantom P3S2). The video tapes were then digitized into the MPEG2 format by conversion from tape to DVD. The MPEG2 files were subsequently encoded to the .mp4 format using the Handbrake application, with tapes from 1989 to 1992 retaining the original VTS_*_ prefix and .mp4 naming convention with multiple files per dive, while the 2006 tapes were compiled into a single file (Dive0X.mp4) for the entire dive using the Apple Final Cut Pro X application. Video files were reviewed and the presence of the key taxa identified for the AECR project noted and saved to Excel spreadsheets. The videos in this data set are in MP4 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).