Description |
This portion of the data release presents a digital surface model (DSM) and digital elevation model (DEM) of the exposed Los Padres Reservoir delta where the Carmel River enters the reservoir. The DSM and DEM have a resolution of 10 centimeters per pixel and were derived from structure-from-motion (SfM) processing of aerial imagery collected with an unoccupied aerial system (UAS) on 2017-11-01. The DSM represents the elevation of the highest object within the bounds of a cell, including vegetation, woody debris and other objects. The DEM represent the elevation of the ground surface where it was visible to the acquisiton system. Due to the nature of SfM processing, the DEM may not represent a true bare-earth surface in areas of thick vegetation cover; in these areas some DEM elevations may instead represent thick vegetation canopy. The raw imagery used to create these elevation models was acquired with a UAS fitted with a Ricoh GR II digital camera featuring a global shutter. The UAS was flown on pre-programmed autonomous flight lines spaced to provide approximately 70 percent overlap between images from adjacent lines. The camera was triggered at 1 Hz using a built-in intervalometer. The UAS was flown at an approximate altitude of 100 meters above ground level (AGL), resulting in a nominal ground-sample-distance (GSD) of 2.6 centimeters per pixel. The raw imagery was geotagged using positions from the UAS onboard single-frequency autonomous GPS. Twenty temporary ground control points (GCPs) consisting of small square tarps with black-and-white cross patterns were distributed throughout the area to establish survey control. The GCP positions were measured using real-time kinematic (RTK) GPS, using corrections from a GPS base station located on a benchmark designated SFML, located approximately 1 kilometer from the study area. The DSM and DEM have been formatted as cloud optimized GeoTIFFs with internal overviews and masks to facilitate cloud-based queries and display. [More]
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