Victoria M. Scholl Matthew A. Burgess Lance R. Brady Miguel L. Villarreal 2025 1.0 raster digital data data release DOI:10.5066/P14QORRX Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center, Denver, CO U.S. Geological Survey This metadata describes the UAS SfM data product Child Item within the Larger Work defined below. https://doi.org/10.5066/P14QORRX Victoria M. Scholl Matthew A. Burgess Lance R. Brady Miguel L. Villarreal 2025 1.0 digital files data release DOI:10.5066/P14QORRX Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center, Denver, CO U.S. Geological Survey Scholl, V.M., Burgess, M.A., Brady, L.R., and Villarreal, M.L., 2025, Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS) imagery and data products from a multiscale remote sensing field campaign at a biocrust monitoring site located near Castle Valley, Utah in February 2022: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P14QORRX. https://doi.org/10.5066/P14QORRX https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/6758d117d34edfeb871029ec 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 structure-from-motion (SfM) data products generated from natural color, multispectral, and thermal UAS aerial imagery. A DJI Matrice 600 Pro UAS with approved government edition firmware was flown carrying each of the following sensors during February 12 to 14, 2022: Ricoh GR II, MicaSense RedEdge-MX Dual, and Zenmuse XT2. Survey control was established using Propeller AeroPoint temporary ground control points (GCPs) distributed throughout the survey area. Aerial images were processed in photogrammetry software using the GCPs to yield SfM digital elevation models (DEMs) and orthomosaics. The natural color and thermal orthomosaics are uncalibrated and contain digital numbers that represent relative brightness and temperatures across the site, respectively. The multispectral 10-band orthomosaic was radiometrically calibrated to units of reflectance. Orthomosaics contain color information across the site and can be used to assess land cover types and vegetation health. DEMs contain elevation information that can be used to assess terrain and vegetation structure at dryland sites. 20220212 20220214 observed ground condition, data collected on three days Complete None planned -109.416335 -109.414612 38.674767 38.674144 None U.S. Geological Survey USGS UAS Uncrewed Aircraft System drone Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center natural color RGB Ricoh GR II multispectral AgEagle MicaSense RedEdge-MX Dual photogrammetry digital elevation model orthomosaic reflectance Zenmuse XT2 temperature USGS Thesaurus remote sensing geospatial datasets structure from motion USGS Metadata Identifier USGS:67783264d34edab7af6e3183 Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) United States Utah Grand County Castle Valley Moab None. Please see 'Distribution Info' for details. Public domain (CC0-1.0) data from the U.S. Government are freely redistributable with proper metadata and source attribution. Unless otherwise stated, all data, metadata and related materials are considered to satisfy the quality standards relative to the purpose for which the data were collected. Although these data and associated metadata have been reviewed for accuracy and completeness and approved for release by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the display or utility of the data on any other system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. U.S. Geological Survey National Uncrewed Systems Office mailing address

12201 Sunrise Valley Drive

Reston VA 20192 US 1-888-ASK-USGS (1-888-275-8747) uas@usgs.gov https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/file/get/67783264d34edab7af6e3183?name=2022_UT_CastleValley_Biocrust_UAS_SfMProducts_Browse.png&allowOpen=true Natural color orthomosaic and digital elevation model data products. PNG USGS National Uncrewed Systems Office Agisoft Metashape Professional (version 1.8.0 build 13794) Jin-Si R. Over Andrew C. Ritchie Christine J. Kranenburg Jenna A. Brown Daniel D. Buscombe Tom Noble Christopher R. Sherwood Jonathan A. Warrick Phillipe A. Wernette 2021 publication Open-File Report 2021-1039 Reston, VA U.S. Geological Survey This publication includes the general methodology for processing imagery in Metashape to produce digital surface models and ortho products. https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20211039 No accuracy assessments were conducted for the natural color and thermal orthomosaic digital number values. In the 10-band multispectral orthomosaic raster product, there are ten reflectance values at each raster cell. To assess the accuracy of these reflectance values, we placed three fabric tarps in the scene, each with known reflectance values of approximately 0.56 (white), 0.30 (gray), and 0.11 (dark). The mean reflectance values in the reflectance orthomosaics were calculated using pixels within each tarp region. We observed the lowest accuracy in white tarp reflectance, and notably low white tarp values in band 1. The center wavelength of the multispectral bands from 1 to 10, are: 444, 475, 531, 560, 650, 668, 705, 717, 740, 842 nm. The mean reflectance values of the white tarp (0.56 expected) from band 1 to band 10 were: 0.491, 0.556, 0.566, 0.578, 0.563, 0.569, 0.551, 0.557, 0.550, 0.552. The mean reflectance values of the gray tarp (0.30 expected) from band 1 to 10 were: 0.314, 0.310, 0.302, 0.304, 0.294, 0.295, 0.285, 0.289, 0.285, 0.288. The mean reflectance values of the black tarp (0.11 expected) from band 1 to 10 were: 0.124, 0.122, 0.117, 0.119, 0.114, 0.115, 0.111, 0.115, 0.113, 0.122. Elevation values across the extent of each DEM are reported below in addition to USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) elevations as an independent check: The natural color (RGB) SfM DEM elevations range between 1,303 to 1,334 meters. The multispectral SfM DEM elevations range between 1,303 to 1,334 meters. The thermal SfM DEM elevations range between 1,302 to 1,334 meters. 3DEP elevations across the same extent range between 1,297 to 1,336 meters. The DEMs were generated from each respective SfM point cloud as an interpolated product to avoid data gaps across the raster. The orthomosaics were made using the DEM surface, default Mosaic blending mode, and hole filling enabled. Elevations within the RGB and MS DEMs are consistent, and elevations within the thermal DEMs are consistent. Elevations between these two groups of DEMs are generally within 10 cm of each other. Reflectance values in the multispectral orthomosaic fall generally within the expected range of 0.0 and 1.0, where 0.0 corresponds to 0% reflectance and 1.0 corresponds to 100% reflectance. However, reflectance values exceeding 1 or 100% can occur due to factors including highly reflective materials and changes in illumination after reference targets were measured. The data set is considered complete for the information presented, as described in the abstract. Users are advised to read the rest of the metadata record carefully for additional details. It is difficult to assess absolute horizontal accuracy of these SfM products since there were no surveyed stable/permanent features in the scene. Ten GCPs were used as control points during SfM photogrammetry processing. The estimated horizontal root mean square error (RMSE) of the check points as reported from the Metashape project report for each data source are: Natural color SfM control point (n=10) RMSE X/Y was 0.31/0.25 cm. Multispectral SfM control point (n=10) RMSE X/Y was 0.26/0.26 cm. Thermal Flight 1 SfM control point (n=10) RMSE X/Y was 0.17/0.12 cm. Thermal Flight 2 RMSE X/Y was 0.19/0.13 cm. Thermal Flight 3 RMSE X/Y was 0.08/0.07 cm. Thermal Flight 4 RMSE X/Y was 0.21/0.13 cm. The estimated vertical RMSE of the check points as reported from the Metashape projects for each site are: Natural color SfM control point (n=10) RMSE Z was 0.39 cm Multispectral SfM control point (n=10) RMSE Z was 0.41 cm. Thermal Flight 1 SfM control point (n=10) RMSE Z was 0.02 cm. Thermal Flight 2 RMSE Z was 0.04 cm. Thermal Flight 3 RMSE Z was 0.02 cm. Thermal Flight 4 RMSE Z was 0.03 cm. These SfM data products were generated using Agisoft Metashape v.1.8.0 software using the general workflow outlined in Over and others (2021). A separate Metashape project was created to process the natural color, multispectral, and thermal data sets separately. 1. Images captured at flight altitude over the survey area were imported into Agisoft Metashape Professional software using the “Add folder…” tool. The multispectral images were imported as Multicamera images to group each set of 10 spectral bands. 2. Photos were aligned with high accuracy, reference preselection set to “Source”, keypoint limit of 60,000, and unlimited tie points. An initial optimization was performed using lens calibration parameters f, cx, cy, k1, k2, k3, p1, and p2. 3. In the Reference Settings, camera and marker accuracy settings were adjusted based on camera type and calculations using AeroPoint data, respectively. The project coordinate system was converted from the default geographic system to a projected coordinate system, NAD83(2011) / UTM zone 12N (EPSG 6341). 4. Ground control points (GCPs) were imported as markers and their locations were manually refined to match the center of each checkered AeroPoint target location within the images. 5. The point cloud (also known as tie points, resulting from the photo alignment and optimization) was edited using an iterative error-reduction procedure to filter the data and delete points with high errors. This error-reduction was done in several iterations of a process called "Gradual Selection," first to reduce reconstruction uncertainty (to a unitless value of 10), then projection accuracy (to a weighted value of 3), and finally reprojection error of 0.3. 6. A DEM was generated using each SfM point cloud as an interpolated product to avoid data gaps across the raster. 7. For the multispectral processing, an additional step was performed at this stage. Using photos containing an AgEagle MicaSense calibration panel (acting as a reference with known reflectance values), the multispectral images were converted to reflectance units following MicaSense guidelines. The panel identification code was RP05-2005276-OB and the MicaSense-provided panel reflectance values per band are as follows: Band 1 (0.542371), Band 2 (0.542673), Band 3 (0.543422), Band 4 (0.543404), Band 5 (0.542677), Band 6 (0.542175), Band 7 (0.541381), Band 8 (0.541039), Band 9 (0.540596), Band 10 (0.538155). 8. An orthomosaic was generated to stitch together the overlapping images across the scene using the DEM surface, default Mosaic blending mode, and hole filling enabled. 9. For the multispectral processing, bands 1 through 10 of the orthomosaic were divided by a scale factor of 32768 at this stage using the Raster Calculator tool to yield a 10-band reflectance raster product with values between 0-1, where 1 indicates 100% reflectance. By testing different parameter iterations, we determined that excluding the MicaSense downwelling light sensor (also known as the sun sensor) data yielded more accurate reflectance in an independent tarp for these data sets. 10. All DEM and orthomosaic data products were exported at native resolutions with projected coordinate system NAD83(2011)/UTM Zone 12N. Products were exported using consistent coordinates for rectangular boundaries across the study area. 11. For the multispectral processing, the exported orthomosaic was opened in ENVI software (version 5.6) to generate an ASCII text header file (.hdr) including the respective band names and center wavelength information for each of the 10 multispectral bands. 20220314 Raster Pixel Universal Transverse Mercator 12 0.9996 -111.0 0.0 500000.0 0.0 coordinate pair 0.012 0.012 meters NAD83_NATIONAL_SPATIAL_REFERENCE_SYSTEM_2011 GRS_1980 6378137.0 298.257222101 North American Vertical Datum of 1988, using geoid 18 0.000001 meters Explicit elevation coordinate included with horizontal coordinates 20220212_UT-CastleValley-UAS_RGB_DEM_1.6cm.tif Natural color SfM DEM raster with encoded elevation values. Spatial resolution is 1.6 cm. Producer Defined Value Surface elevation orthometric height NAVD88 (m) using Geoid 18 in NAD83(2011)/UTM Zone 12N. Agisoft Metashape -32767 No data Producer defined 1303.029419 1334.693848 meters 20220212_UT-CastleValley-UAS_RGB_Ortho_0.8cm.tif Natural color 3-band (RGB) SfM orthomosaic raster in GeoTIFF format. Band values are digital numbers encoded as unsigned 8-bit (2^8) integers. Spatial resolution is 0.8 cm. Producer Defined Red Red wavelength band Agisoft Metashape 0 255 Green Green wavelength band Agisoft Metashape 0 255 Blue Blue wavelength band Agisoft Metashape 0 255 20220213-UT-CastleValley-UAS_MS_DEM_1.5cm.tif Multispectral SfM DEM raster with encoded elevation values. Spatial resolution is 1.5 cm. Producer Defined Value Surface elevation orthometric height NAVD88 (m) using Geoid 18 in NAD83(2011)/UTM Zone 12N. Agisoft Metashape -32767 No data Producer defined 1303.876465 1334.061890 meters 20220213_UT-CastleValley-UAS_MS_Ortho_1.5cm.tif Multispectral 10-band orthomosaic, 32-bit floating point GeoTIFF raster. Values have been transformed from digital numbers into decimal reflectance values (unitless). Accompanying header file (.hdr) contains band names and center wavelength values. Spatial resolution is 1.5 cm. Producer Defined Band 1 Coastal blue (444 nm center wavelength, 28 nm bandwidth) band reflectance Agisoft Metashape 0.000000 0.637093 Band 2 Blue (475 nm center wavelength, 32 nm bandwidth) band reflectance Agisoft Metashape 0.000000 0.709982 Band 3 Green (531 nm center wavelength, 14 nm bandwidth) band reflectance Agisoft Metashape 0.000000 0.884860 Band 4 Green (560 nm center, 27 nm bandwidth) band reflectance Agisoft Metashape 0.000000 0.919670 Band 5 Red (650 nm center, 16 nm bandwidth) band reflectance Agisoft Metashape 0.000000 1.063589 Band 6 Red (668 nm center, 14 nm bandwidth) band reflectance Agisoft Metashape 0.000000 0.958901 Band 7 Red edge (705 nm center, 10 nm bandwidth) band reflectance Agisoft Metashape 0.000000 0.927030 Band 8 Red edge (717 nm center, 12 nm bandwidth) band reflectance Agisoft Metashape 0.000000 1.007829 Band 9 Red edge (740 nm center, 18 nm bandwidth) band reflectance Agisoft Metashape 0.000000 1.119398 Band 10 Near infrared (842 nm center, 57 nm bandwidth) band reflectance Agisoft Metashape 0.000000 1.411645 20220212-UT-CastleValley-UAS_T1_DEM_5.9cm.tif Thermal (Flight 1 of 4) SfM DEM raster with encoded 16-bit floating point elevation values. Spatial resolution is 5.9 cm. Producer Defined Value Surface elevation orthometric height NAVD88 (m) using Geoid 18 in NAD83(2011)/UTM Zone 12N. Agisoft Metashape -32767 No data Producer defined 1302.823364 1334.182251 meters 20220212-UT-CastleValley-UAS_T1_Ortho_3.0cm.tif Thermal (Flight 1 of 4) SfM orthomosaic, 16-bit integer GeoTIFF raster. Spatial resolution is 3.0 cm. Producer Defined Value Uncalibrated digital numbers represent relative surface temperature across the scene. Agisoft Metashape -32767 No data Producer defined 0 803 20220212-UT-CastleValley-UAS_T2_DEM_5.9cm.tif Thermal (Flight 2 of 4) SfM DEM raster with encoded 16-bit floating point elevation values. Spatial resolution is 5.9 cm. Producer Defined Value Surface elevation orthometric height NAVD88 (m) using Geoid 18 in NAD83(2011)/UTM Zone 12N. Agisoft Metashape -32767 No data Producer defined 1302.377319 1333.520874 meters 20220212-UT-CastleValley-UAS_T2_Ortho_2.9cm.tif Thermal (Flight 2 of 4) SfM orthomosaic, 16-bit integer GeoTIFF raster. Spatial resolution is 2.9 cm. Producer Defined Value Uncalibrated digital numbers represent relative surface temperature across the scene. Agisoft Metashape -32767 No data Producer defined 0 787 20220213-UT-CastleValley-UAS_T3_DEM_6.2cm.tif Thermal (Flight 3 of 4) SfM DEM raster with encoded 16-bit floating point elevation values. Spatial resolution is 6.2 cm. Producer Defined Value Surface elevation orthometric height NAVD88 (m) using Geoid 18 in NAD83(2011)/UTM Zone 12N. Agisoft Metashape -32767 No data Producer defined 1303.528198 1334.439575 meters 20220213-UT-CastleValley-UAS_T3_Ortho_3.1cm.tif Thermal (Flight 3 of 4) SfM orthomosaic, 16-bit integer GeoTIFF raster. Spatial resolution is 3.1 cm. Producer Defined Value Uncalibrated digital numbers represent relative surface temperature across the scene. Agisoft Metashape -32767 No data Producer defined 0 770 20220214-UT-CastleValley-UAS_T4_DEM_5.8cm.tif Thermal (Flight 4 of 4) SfM DEM raster with encoded 16-bit floating point elevation values. Spatial resolution is 5.8 cm. Producer Defined Value Surface elevation orthometric height NAVD88 (m) using Geoid 18 in NAD83(2011)/UTM Zone 12N. Agisoft Metashape -32767 No data Producer defined 1303.471191 1334.259766 meters 20220214-UT-CastleValley-UAS_T4_Ortho_2.9cm.tif Thermal (Flight 4 of 4) SfM orthomosaic, 16-bit integer GeoTIFF raster. Spatial resolution is 2.9 cm. Producer Defined Value Uncalibrated digital numbers represent relative surface temperature across the scene. Agisoft Metashape -32767 No data Producer defined 0 819 The "No Data" value for these orthomosaic and DEM products is -32767. Note that since multiple file types with various specifications are presented with this metadata file, details such as the Abscissa and Ordinate Resolution are reported within each file's Entity_Type_Definition field. 2022_UT_CastleValley_Biocrust_DataDictionary.csv U.S. Geological Survey - ScienceBase mailing address

Denver Federal Center, Building 810, Mail Stop 302

Denver CO 80225 United States 1-888-275-8747 sciencebase@usgs.gov Neither the U.S. Government, the Department of the Interior, nor the USGS, nor any of their employees, contractors, or subcontractors, make any warranty, express or implied, nor assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, nor represent that its use would not infringe on privately owned rights. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the U.S. Geological Survey in the use of these data or related materials. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. TIFF 1.0.0 32-bit floating point GeoTIFF format 20220212_UT-CastleValley-UAS_RGB_DEM_1.6cm.tif, 20220213-UT-CastleValley-UAS_MS_DEM_1.5cm.tif, 20220212-UT-CastleValley-UAS_T1_DEM_5.9cm.tif, 20220212-UT-CastleValley-UAS_T2_DEM_5.9cm.tif, 20220213-UT-CastleValley-UAS_T3_DEM_6.2cm.tif, and 20220214-UT-CastleValley-UAS_T4_DEM_5.8cm.tif are elevation rasters. 20220213_UT-CastleValley-UAS_MS_Ortho_1.5cm.tif is a multispectral reflectance raster. 1563 https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/67783264d34edab7af6e3183 Download data from the SfM Products Child Item page on ScienceBase. TIFF 1.0.0 16-bit integer GeoTIFF format 20220212_UT-CastleValley-UAS_RGB_Ortho_0.8cm.tif, 20220212-UT-CastleValley-UAS_T1_Ortho_3.0cm.tif, 20220212-UT-CastleValley-UAS_T2_Ortho_2.9cm.tif, 20220213-UT-CastleValley-UAS_T3_Ortho_3.1cm.tif, and 20220214-UT-CastleValley-UAS_T4_Ortho_2.9cm.tif are orthomosaic rasters with uncalibrated digital numbers. 514 https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/67783264d34edab7af6e3183 Download data from the SfM Products Child Item page on ScienceBase. ASCII 1.0.0 Text file containing header information for accompanying raster image files. Each header file has the same name as the accompanying image file. 20220213_UT-CastleValley-UAS_MS_Ortho_1.5cm.hdr is a header file that describes attributes of the corresponding orthomosaic GeoTIFF presented in this data release. 0.002 https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/67783264d34edab7af6e3183 Download data from the SfM Products Child Item page on ScienceBase. None 20250701 Victoria M. Scholl mailing

Mail Stop 516, W 6th Ave Kipling St

Lakewood CO 80225 US 1-888-ASK-USGS (1-888-275-8747) uas@usgs.gov The metadata contact email address is a team address in the event the person is no longer with USGS. FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata FGDC-STD-001.1-1999