In support of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Southwest Biological Science Center researchers, and in coordination with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), the USGS National Uncrewed Systems Office (NUSO) conducted uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) remote sensing flights over two BLM Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM) plots at the NEON Moab site in Utah for multi-scale carbon sequestration research on public lands. The UAS data collected include natural color, multispectral, and hyperspectral imagery, and lidar to capture diverse information about vegetation and soils on drylands. The first site (“site 1”) features intact sagebrush and was mapped on May 3, 2023. The second site (“site 7”) is located on a grazed rangeland environment and was mapped on May 5, 2023. These UAS surveys were conducted in early May 2023 to coincide spatially and temporally with ground-based BLM AIM sampling and airplane-based remote sensing surveys by NEON. This portion of the data release presents ground control point (GCP) location data collected during low-altitude UAS surveys at two dryland sites approximately 40 km south of Moab, Utah. Survey control was established using Propeller AeroPoint temporary GCPs distributed throughout the survey area. GCPs were post-processed with corrections from a concurrently operating Trimble R8s post-processed kinematic (PPK) GNSS base station. Six GCPs were used at each survey site for a total of twelve GCPs described in this data release.

In February 2022, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Uncrewed Systems Office (NUSO) conducted uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) remote sensing flights to support biological soil crust (biocrust) research at an experiment site located near Castle Valley, Utah. Researchers at the USGS Southwest Biological Science Center have managed this site for over 50 years to study the effects of a warming climate and precipitation changes on biocrust community behavior and composition. Natural color, multispectral, thermal infrared, and hyperspectral UAS image data were collected to capture information about the composition and temperature of biocrust plots subjected to various warming and watering treatments. This portion of the data release presents ground control point (GCP) location data collected during the UAS surveys. Survey control was established using Propeller AeroPoint temporary GCPs distributed throughout the survey area each day. GCPs were post-processed using the Propeller Corrections Network, which corrects each GCP location with satellite observations from an existing nearby base station. The post-processed GCP data are provided here in a comma separated value (.CSV) file.

Low-altitude digital images were taken over an area of the Potomac River in Point of Rocks, Maryland using 3DR Solo unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) on October 24, 2019. The imagery was collected for the purpose of evaluating UAS assessment of river habitat data such as water depth, substrate type, and water clarity. Some photographs contain black and white targets used as ground control points (GCPs), which were surveyed by a field crew with a high-precision (GNSS) Global Navigation Satellite System and/or containing internal post processing kinematic (PPK) GPS system. This data release contains the csv files containing the latitude and longitude coordinates, in Universal Transverse Mercator Zone 18N referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (2011), of the ground control points.

Low-altitude digital images were taken over an area of the Potomac River in Point of Rocks, Maryland using 3DR Solo unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) on October 24, 2019. The imagery was collected for the purpose of evaluating UAS assessment of river habitat data such as water depth, substrate type, and water clarity. Some photographs contain black and white targets used as ground control points (GCPs), which were surveyed by a field crew with a high-precision (GNSS) Global Navigation Satellite System and/or containing internal post processing kinematic (PPK) GPS system. This data release contains the csv files containing the latitude and longitude coordinates, in Universal Transverse Mercator Zone 18N referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (2011), of the ground control points.

In support of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Southwest Biological Science Center researchers, and in coordination with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), the USGS National Uncrewed Systems Office (NUSO) conducted uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) remote sensing flights over two BLM Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM) plots at the NEON Moab site in Utah for multi-scale carbon sequestration research on public lands. The UAS data collected include natural color, multispectral, and hyperspectral imagery, and lidar to capture diverse information about vegetation and soils on drylands. The first site (“site 1”) features intact sagebrush and was mapped on May 3, 2023. The second site (“site 7”) is located on a grazed rangeland environment and was mapped on May 5, 2023. These UAS surveys were conducted in early May 2023 to coincide spatially and temporally with ground-based BLM AIM sampling and airplane-based remote sensing surveys by NEON. This portion of the data release presents discrete lidar point clouds from low-altitude UAS flights at two dryland sites approximately 40 km south of Moab, Utah. A YellowScan Vx20-100 scanner (laser wavelength 905 nm) was flown at an altitude of 31 meters above ground level on a DJI Matrice 600 Pro UAS with approved government edition firmware. The lidar point clouds were post-processed kinematic (PPK) corrected to a concurrently operating Trimble R8s GNSS base station and each point was assigned Red, Gren, Blue (RGB) image values using corresponding natural color orthomosaics at each site. The point clouds were also point classified using a bare-ground classification scheme (0-Created, never classified; 2-Ground) and exported in .las format.

Low-altitude digital images were taken over an area of the Potomac River in Shepherdstown, West Virginia using 3DR Solo unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) on October 21, 2019. The imagery was collected for the purpose of evaluating UAS assessment of river habitat data such as water depth, substrate type, and water clarity. Some photographs contain black and white targets used as ground control points (GCPs), which were surveyed by a field crew with a high-precision (GNSS) Global Navigation Satellite System and/or containing internal post processing kinematic (PPK) GPS system. This data release contains the csv file containing the latitude and longitude coordinates, in Universal Transverse Mercator Zone 18N referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (2011), of the ground control points.

Low-altitude digital images were taken over an area of the Potomac River in Shepherdstown, West Virginia using 3DR Solo unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) on October 21, 2019. The imagery was collected for the purpose of evaluating UAS assessment of river habitat data such as water depth, substrate type, and water clarity. Some photographs contain black and white targets used as ground control points (GCPs), which were surveyed by a field crew with a high-precision (GNSS) Global Navigation Satellite System and/or containing internal post processing kinematic (PPK) GPS system. This data release contains the csv file containing the latitude and longitude coordinates, in Universal Transverse Mercator Zone 18N referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (2011), of the ground control points.

Low-altitude aerial images were taken over an area of the Potomac River in Brunswick, Maryland using 3DR Solo unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) on October 22, 2019. The imagery was collected for the purpose of evaluating UAS assessment of river habitat data such as water depth, substrate type, and water clarity. Some photographs contain black and white targets used as ground control points (GCPs), which were surveyed by a field crew with a high-precision (GNSS) Global Navigation Satellite System and/or containing internal post processing kinematic (PPK) GPS system. This data release contains the csv files containing the latitude and longitude coordinates, in Universal Transverse Mercator Zone 18N referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (2011), of the ground control points.

Low-altitude aerial images were taken over an area of the Potomac River in Brunswick, Maryland using 3DR Solo unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) on October 22, 2019. The imagery was collected for the purpose of evaluating UAS assessment of river habitat data such as water depth, substrate type, and water clarity. Some photographs contain black and white targets used as ground control points (GCPs), which were surveyed by a field crew with a high-precision (GNSS) Global Navigation Satellite System and/or containing internal post processing kinematic (PPK) GPS system. This data release contains the csv files containing the latitude and longitude coordinates, in Universal Transverse Mercator Zone 18N referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (2011), of the ground control points.

Low-altitude digital images were taken over an area of the Potomac River in White's Ferry, Maryland using 3DR Solo unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) on October 23, 2019. The imagery was collected for the purpose of evaluating UAS assessment of river habitat data such as water depth, substrate type, and water clarity. Some photographs contain black and white targets used as ground control points (GCPs), which were surveyed by a field crew with a high-precision (GNSS) Global Navigation Satellite System and/or containing internal post processing kinematic (PPK) GPS system. This data release contains the csv files containing the latitude and longitude coordinates, in Universal Transverse Mercator Zone 18N referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (2011), of the ground control points.