High resolution natural color and thermal imagery collected by uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) for mapping vegetation change and natural spring identification at Tavasci Marsh in the Tuzigoot National Monument, AZ during 2024

The U.S. Geological Survey collected low-altitude airborne natural color imagery and surface temperatures via a hexacopter uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) for mapping Tavasci Marsh in the Tuzigoot National Monument in Arizona. Visual imagery was collected in jpg (for color imagery) and TIFF (for thermal imagery) format and Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry techniques were applied to derive high-resolution natural color and thermal (surface temperatures) orthomosaics of the study area in 2024. Ground control points (GCPs), which are temporary targets on the ground located by using a real-time kinematic global navigation satellite system (RTK-GNSS) base station and rover, were used in georectification in the SfM process. Agisoft Metashape Professional (v. 2.0.2 build 16404) was used to create a 10cm resolution natural color orthomosaic and a surface temperature orthomosaic for the data collected in 2024.