| Acidification | Many human activities, like driving cars and burning fossil fuels, release carbon dioxide into the air. The ocean absorbs a lot of this carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide undergoes chemical reactions in the water, which produce hydrogen ions. These ions lower the ocean’s pH, making it more acidic. An acidic ocean can make it harder for shell-building animals, like clams and oysters, to build strong shells. |
| Aquaculture | Aquaculture refers to the growing of marine organisms to be harvested and eaten. You can think of it as farming, or agriculture, but in the ocean or sound. Oysters are one common animal that is grown in specific places for humans to eat. |
| Bathymetry | This is the layout of the ocean floor, which has many different hills, valleys, and changes in elevation just like the land. It is similar to topography on land. |
| Biological/Ecological | This data category includes information about which plants and animals live in different places. |
| Biota | A place’s biota is all of its living organisms, including plants and animals of all kinds. |
| Boundaries | The boundaries keyword includes any dataset that outlines management areas, towns, counties, water bodies, or other regions that have been marked for specific purposes. |
| Chemical | This data category includes information about water quality, such as how much oxygen is in the water, what pollutants might be in the water, and what nutrients might be in the water. |
| Climate | Climate is the long-term weather patterns of a location, including temperature, precipitation, and other factors. Weather is the clothing you wear one day, while climate is the set of clothes you buy to live in a particular place. |
| Climate Change Planning | As the climate changes, sea levels are predicted to rise and storms may become stronger. Many towns create plans and datasets to predict what might happen during climate change and how to respond. This keyword includes any of those planning datasets. |
| Crustaceans | Crustaceans are a group of animals with hard outer skeletons (exoskeletons) and no backbones (invertebrates), including crabs and lobsters. |
| Demographics | Demographics refers to the traits of the people living in a particular area. |
| Disaster Planning | Many towns create plans and maps for what to do and who may be at risk during large storms, floods, or other dangerous situations. This keyword includes any of those planning datasets. |
| Economics | This keyword includes datasets about how much money an area may make, especially from ocean tourism or fishing. |
| Endangered Species Conservation | Endangered species are groups of animals whose populations are becoming small enough that scientists worry they may become extinct, or disappear forever. There are many special rules and laws about endangered species to try to protect them and increase their population. Endangered species conservation refers to the rules and data related to protecting the species. |
| Erosion | Erosion occurs when wind, waves, or other factors remove sand and sediment from a coastline. Erosion may be likely in some places and unlikely in others based on the type of rock or sediment located there. |
| Fisheries | This data category includes information about commercial fishing. This includes rules and regulations for fishing, how many fishing boats were in an area in a certain year, and how much fish those boats caught. |
| Gear | Fishermen use different types of traps, boats, or fishing lines to catch different types of fish. These different tools are called “gear.” |
| Geological | This data category includes information about what types of soils and sediments are located in a certain place. It also includes information about what bottom types (sand, mud, rock, etc) are found in areas of LIS. |
| Geological Features | Geological features include mountains, hills, rock formations, glacial features, and other related locations. |
| Habitats | An animal or plant’s habitat is where it likes to live and what things (water sources, types of food, types of shelter, etc.) the organism needs to live there. Different places can be good habitats for some organisms but bad habitats for others. |
| Hydrography | Hydrography refers to the flow of water through the landscape, such as through rivers, streams, and watersheds that lead into LIS or the ocean. |
| Hypoxia | Hypoxia is a scientific term for low oxygen. Many places, including LIS, develop hypoxic areas during the summer months. These hypoxic areas can be harmful to fish and other marine life. |
| Infrastructure | Infrastructure refers to buildings, roads, bridges, and other built features found in an area. |
| Land Elevation | Land elevation refers to how high above sea level an area of land is. Land elevation can affect how water drains through an area and how likely an area is to flood in bad weather or high tides. |
| Land Use | Land use datasets provide information about the landcover of certain areas, such as farmland, forest, developed land, etc. |
| Landings | Landings refers to the total amount of fish or seafood a group of fishermen, or fishing fleet, caught during a certain time period. |
| Mammals | Mammals are warm-blooded animals that breathe air. Marine mammals in LIS include whales, dolphins, and seals. |
| Management | Management refers to rules that are put in place for how humans can use land, animals, or plants in an area. Management is important for protecting the environment and making sure humans don’t use it in ways that may cause damage to nature. |
| Management Areas | Many management rules are made for specific areas of land, which are outlined in the datasets related to this keyword. |
| Mollusks | Mollusks are animals with soft bodies often covered by hard outer shells. Mollusks include animals like clams, scallops, oysters, and squid. |
| Offshore Development | Offshore development includes the building of structures in or on LIS. Examples of offshore development include wind turbines, wind farms, and seafloor cables. |
| Physical | This data category includes information about waves, tides, currents, and weather patterns. |
| Plankton | Plankton are organisms that float through the water and have little ability to swim on their own. Many plankton are very small and are an important food source for larger animals. |
| Pollutants | Pollutants are substances that end up in LIS or other water bodies that can cause harm to the people, animals, or plants that live in or use the water. |
| Properties | Properties refers to properties of the water in LIS, including its pH (acidity), its temperature, its salinity (salt content), its amount of oxygen, and other factors. |
| Recreation | Recreation refers to ways that humans use LIS and the surrounding areas for fun. Recreational activities may include hiking, fishing, sailing, swimming, and going to the beach. |
| Reptiles | Reptiles are a group of cold-blooded animals with backbones (vertebrates) that breathe air but may live in water. Sea turtles are the most common marine reptile in LIS. |
| Social | This data category includes information about the people living near and/or using Long Island Sound. This also includes information related to predicted climate change effects and disaster planning efforts. |
| Soil | Different types of soil have different properties. Soil can be good or bad for farming, and different types of soil may be more likely to erode, or be swept away by wind or water. Datasets related to soil include maps of what soil types can be found where. |
| Submerged Aquatic Vegetation | Submerged aquatic vegetation, or SAV, is the term used for plants that grow in the water. One of the most important types of SAV in LIS is seagrass. |
| Substrate or Bottom Type | The substrate or bottom type refers to what material is found at the bottom of a body of water. The substrate is different in different areas of LIS and can be mud, sand, rock, shell, or combinations of these types. |
| Tides | Tides are the daily rising and falling of the ocean level controlled by the sun and moon. The tides keyword includes both historical (past) tide level data and future (predicted) tide levels. |
| Vessels | Vessels, or boats, come in many different sizes and types, including fishing vessels, research vessels, recreational vessels, and more. This keyword includes information about how many vessels of these different types used LIS in a particular year. |
| Water Quality | The water quality keyword includes datasets that help tell how healthy or clean a body of water is. This includes pollutants that may have entered the water as well as oxygen levels in the water since both of these factors can affect the animals, people, and plants using that body of water. |
| Waves and Currents | This keyword includes datasets about the height of waves that crash onto LIS beaches and the movement of water (currents) throughout LIS. |
| Wetlands | Wetlands are areas that are frequently covered by water, often during high tides or storms. Wetlands support unique communities of plants and animals that are not found in other habitats. |