Four Band Multispectral High Resolution Image Mosaic of the Colorado River Corridor, Arizona - Data

In May 2013, the Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center (GCMRC) of the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Southwest Biological Science Center (SBSC) acquired airborne multispectral high resolution data for the Colorado River in Grand Canyon in Arizona, USA. The imagery data consist of four bands (blue, green, red and near infrared) with a ground resolution of 20 centimeters (cm). These data are available to the public as 16-bit geotiff files. They are projected in the State Plane (SP) map projection using the central Arizona zone (202) and the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83). The assessed accuracy for these data is based on 91 Ground Control Points (GCPs), and is reported at 95% confidence as 0.64 meters (m) and a Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 0.36m.
The airborne data acquisition was conducted under contract by Fugro Earthdata Inc. using two fixed wing aircraft from May 25th to 30th, 2013 at altitudes between 2440 meters to 3350 meters above mean sea level. 
The data delivered by Fugro Earthdata Inc. were checked for smear, shadow extent and water clarity as described for previous image acquisitions in Davis (2012). We then produced a corridor-wide mosaic using the best possible tiles with the least amount of smear, the smallest shadow extent, and clearest, most glint-free water possible. During the mosaic process adjacent tiles sometimes had to be spectrally adjusted to account for differences in date, time, sun angle, weather, and environment. We used the same method as described in Davis (2012) for the spectral adjustment.
A horizontal accuracy assessment was completed by Fugro Earthdata Inc. using 188 GCPs provided by GCMRC. The GCPs were marked during the image acquisition with 1m2 diagonally alternated black and white plastic panels centered on control points throughout the river corridor in the GCMRC survey control network (Hazel and others, 2008). The Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) accuracy reported by Fugro Earthdata Inc. is 0.17m Easting and 0.15m Northing, or better, depending on the acquisition zone.
The 16-bit image data are stored as four band images in embedded geotiff format, which can be read and used by most geographic information system (GIS) and image-processing software. The TIFF world files (tfw) are provided, however they are not needed for many software to read an embedded geotiff image. The image files are projected in the State Plane (SP) 2011, map projection using the central Arizona zone (202) and the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83).
A complete detailed description of the methods can be found in the associated USGS Data Series 1027 for these data, https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/ds1027.

Tags: airborne-imagery, airborne-multispectral-high-resolution-data, arizona, bright-angel-creek, colorado-river, diamond-creek, digital-aerial-imagery, four-band-image-mosaic, geotiff, glen-canyon-dam, grand-canyon, havasu-creek, kanab-creek, lake-mead, lake-powell, lees-ferry, leica-ads80-82, little-colorado-river, marble-canyon, natural-color, near-infrared, orthoimagery, page, paria-river, peach-springs, pearce-ferry, shinumo-creek, tapeats-creek, united-states, usgs-588bac04e4b0ad67324029c5
Organization: Department of the Interior