Topographic data, aerial imagery, and GPS data collected during uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) operations at Lower Darby Creek, Darby Township, Pennsylvania, March to August 2025

The U.S. Geological Survey deployed small uncrewed aircraft systems (sUAS) to collect aerial remote sensing data across sites within the Lower Darby Creek Superfund Site ~5 miles outside of Philadelphia, PA in March and August of 2025.  March datasets include aerial images and lidar. August datasets include aerial images from natural color (RGB) and multispectral sensors, and lidar.  These datasets were processed to produce high resolution digital elevation models (DEM), image mosaics, and lidar point clouds (LPC).  Black and white cross-coded ground control points (GCPs) were surveyed using Real Time Kinematic (RTK) GPS and RTK-GPS enabled AeroPoints to georeference the model and orthomosaics during post-processing. The elevation and imagery products were produced to help partners at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) acquire accurate elevation data for target sites during the winter "leaf-off" period (March) and monitor changes in vegetation cover during peak growing season (August) building a baseline conditions dataset starting in August 2023. Future data collections are planned to support long-term monitoring of landscape change resulting from remediation efforts and potential storm impacts.