This data layer was created by the Conservation Management Institute, Virginia Tech University for the USFWS National Wetlands Inventory, Region 5. The project area encompasses the eastern end of Long Island Sound, including Fishers Island and the North Fork of Long Island. It includes all coastal embayments and nearshore waters (i.e., to a depth of -15 feet at mean low water) bordering the Sound from Clinton Harbor in the west to the Rhode Island border in the east and including Fishers Island and the North Shore of Long Island from Southold to Orient Point and Plum Island. The study area includes the tidal zone of 18 sub-basins in Connecticut: Little Narragansett Bay, Stonington Harbor, Quiambog Cove, Mystic Harbor, Palmer-West Cove, Mumford Cove, Paquonock River, New London Harbor, Goshen Cove, Jordan Cove, Niantic Bay, Rocky Neck State Park, Old Lyme Shores, Connecticut River, Willard Bay, Westbrook Harbor, Duck Island Roads, and Clinton Harbor, and two areas in New York: Fishers Island and a portion of the North Shore of Long Island. Delineations of 2009 eelgrass beds were completed using 1:20,000 true color aerial photography flown at low tide on 7/14/2009 and 7/15/2009. Extensive field work was conducted by the USFWS Region 5 Southern New England-New York Bight Coastal Program Office in October, November, and December 2009 with 193 field sites checked. The 2009 photography was scanned and geo-rectified using 2006 NAIP 1 meter true color imagery. Data have been summarized in a technical report: Tiner, R., K. McGuckin, M. Fields, N. Fuhrman, T. Halavik, and A. MacLachlan. 2010. 2009 Eelgrass Survey for Eastern Long Island Sound, Connecticut and New York. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Wetlands Inventory Program, Northeast Region, Hadley, MA. National Wetlands Inventory report. 16 pp. plus Appendix.
This dataset was developed for an ongoing eelgrass monitoring of the Long Island Sound. Funding was provided by the EPA, Region 2.
ground condition
contraints based on limitation of methods of aquiring data through remotely sensed processes.
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Attribute accuracy based on quality of 1:20000 photography, and the ability to indentify submerged vegetation and the density of beds.
Photography was taken during two flgiht missions on July 14, 2009 and July 15, 2009, at low tide.
Based on photography, and the abiltiy to identify eelgrass beds and delineate them from 1:20,000 True Color geo-rectified photography
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The 2009, 1:20000 true color photography was scanned and geo-rectified in ArcGIS 9.3 to NAIP 2006 true color 1 meter resolution imagery for Connecticut and New York. The 2006 eelgrass datalayer was used as a base, and polygonal data was added, subtracted or adjusted to reflect what was identified on the newer imagery. Field work was completed using a USFWS research vessel, and USFWS personnel. One Hundred Ninety Three sites were checked and documented. This information was converted to a point datalayer and used to adjust the original delineation. In some cases, very small beds that were identified during the field survey were mapped as points and buffered to yield a polygon of 0.1-acre in size. Bed density was determined using spectral signatures in the current imagery. 2006 and 2002 surveys and field observations were used to help identify these signatures in the initial drafts. Field observations from 2009 were then incorporated into the final revision and took precedence over previous density identifications. The interpretations were then displayed in map form using the 2009 digital imagery as the base map.
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