Aerial Imagery

Plane-mounted aerial camera systems are used across the U.S. Department of the Interior for science, resource monitoring, emergency management, and disaster recovery, among many other applications. A critical step in deploying aerial cameras is calibrating these systems to ground control points (GCP). This allows the camera systems, when combined with photo rectification software, to precisely...

Aerial ocular surveys used by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service provide the most cost and time-efficient method to evaluate the relative abundance and spatial distributions of breeding, staging, and wintering waterbirds. However, the survey method is subject to substantial visibility bias, and visibility correction factors must be calculated to correct for incomplete detection...

Models seek to describe the natural world around us and how we interact with the world. For example, physical models might help Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC) visitors understand landscapes, such as the Mississippi River or topology and water flow.

The shoreline, beaches, and infrastructure in Duluth, Minnesota have been degraded along the Minnesota Point barrier island because of high water levels and heavy wave action. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is exploring the beneficial use of dredge material for beach nourishment on the Lake Superior side of the barrier island.

The Kalamazoo River Area of Concern (AOC) has multiple dams in various stages of removal, at which restoration work will be completed in the coming years. Hydrogeomorphic data from relatively undisturbed river reaches are commonly used to inform the design parameters of river restoration projects. Reference reaches are selected to have similar prevailing boundary conditions as target restoration...

The Trempealeau National Wildlife refuge (NWR) is a refuge for breeding and migratory birds. In order to better understand habitat availability and manipulate water levels, a baseline knowledge of bathymetry of the area is needed. Currently, there is no bathymetric surveys for this area specifically and there are very few shallow water surveys especially for highly vegetated wetlands. The U.S...

UMESC supports Federal and state management agencies in their battle against invasive carp in the United States by conducting research, monitoring fish, and developing decision support tools. The Chinese Unified Method is a fish harvest method that uses herding techniques and a variety of nets to drive fish and concentrate them for capture. UMESC supported the development of the “Modified Unified...

The National Park Service Mississippi National River and Recreation Area and the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway is known for their conservation efforts of threatened and endangered native freshwater mussels. Understanding what constitutes mussel habitat is important for identifying suitable habitat for the conservation and restoration of freshwater mussels. Mussel habitat has not been well...

Understanding the distribution of threatened and endangered freshwater mussels is needed to conserve and restore populations. Sampling for native freshwater mussels typically involves taking quadrat samples in soft substrates and counting the number of mussels in a defined area. However, this methodology is unsuitable for detecting populations of the Spectaclecase mussel ( Margaritifera monodonta...

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Upper Mississippi River Restoration (UMRR) Program Long Term Resource Monitoring (LTRM) element is implemented by the U.S. Geological Survey, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC), in cooperation with the five Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) states of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin. Color infrared aerial photography was...

Most of the locks and dams on the Illinois River are scheduled for closure for repair during the summer of 2020. This project will use 4-band (natural color and color infrared) aerial imagery to document baseline aquatic vegetation and river conditions prior to the closures in the late summer of 2019, and once again in the later summer of 2021 after the locks are reopened.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Upper Mississippi River Restoration (UMRR) program, through its Long Term Resource Monitoring (UMRR-LTRM) element, is completing the 2020 decadal update of Land Cover/Land Use (LCU) for the entire Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS). Dissemination of the 2020 LCU database will provide a fourth systemic dataset to compare to the 1989, 2000, and 2010/11...