Low-altitude aerial imagery collected from a Helikite at Marconi Beach, Wellfleet, MA on March 22, 2024

The data in this release re-map the beach and nearshore environment at Marconi Beach in Wellfleet, MA and provide updated environmental context for the 2021 CoastCam installation that looks out at the coast shared by beachgoers, shorebirds, seals, and sharks. This is related to the field activity 2024-016-FA and a collaboration with the National Park Service at Cape Cod National Seashore to monitor the region that falls within the field of view of two video cameras aimed at the beach (CoastCam CACO-02). In March and April 2024, U.S. Geological Survey and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientists conducted field surveys to collect topographic and bathymetric data. A camera (Ricoh GRII) attached to a helium filled balloon-kite (Helikite) took images of the beach for use in structure-from-motion. High-precision GPS targets (AeroPoints V2) were used as ground control points. Bathymetry was collected in the nearshore using a single-beam echosounder mounted on a surf capable self-righting electric autonomous surface vehicle. Agisoft Metashape (v. 2.1.0) was used to create a digital surface model and orthomosaic with the collected imagery.