National Uncrewed Systems Office

USGS employees from the USGS National Uncrewed Systems Office (NUSO) and the USGS EROS CalVal Center of Excellence (ECCOE) during a UAS test in a Denver Federal Center parking lot.

USGS NUSO scientists act as a visual observer (Joe Adams left) and a UAS remote pilot (Matt Burgess right) during a UAS flight at the Denver Federal Center

USGS researcher Victoria Scholl (NUSO) checks the image quality of photos captured using the Mavic Pro UAS over a bog in Alaska. These photos will be used to generate a Structure from Motion photogrammetry orthomosaic. 

UAS carrying the methane sensor (left) and a smaller UAS used to collect videos and photos (right) in Alaska. Both UAS are resting on wooden pallets that the team set onto the bog for a dry and flat takeoff/landing location.

Victoria Scholl (NUSO), Kristen Manies (GMEG Science Center), and Joe Adams (NUSO) hiked the UAS gear through the woods and across a network of boardwalks to access the bog site at the BNZ LTER.

Image from a UAS acquired natural color video showing the UAS-mounted Kolibri sensor being flown through the smoke plume during one of the in-situ oil burns at a Poker Flat Research Range retention pond in Alaska.

USGS researcher Joe Adams tacking down a calibration tarp at the Eastern Ecological Science Center - Leetown Research Laboratory.

Uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) hyperspectral data collection flight over a reservoir at the Eastern USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center - Leetown Research Laboratory (EESC-LRL) in West Virginia.

USGS researcher Matt Burgess remotely pilots a UAS collecting lidar data during the April 2022 USGS UASnow project at Berthoud Pass, Colorado.

A UAS collecting natural color video over one of the study sites during a joint NUSO and USGS Water Resources Mission Area snow mapping project in Winter Park, Colorado.

USGS researcher Joe Adams (NUSO) setting up a GPS base station at one of the study sites for a snow mapping project in Winter Park, Colorado. GPS base station data is used in post-processing to improve the geospatial accuracy of UAS collected data.

USGS NUSO researchers Victoria Scholl and Mark Bauer take a moment to enjoy the scenery during a UAS data collection for the snow water equivalent (SWE) project at the Berthoud Pass Colorado study site.

Please don’t walk on the biocrust!

Drone's eye view of a USGS remote pilot during a biocrust mission near Moab, UT

NUSO UAS pilot Matt Burgess captures an image of himself while landing a UAS after a flight over a biocrust site near Moab, Utah.

USGS researcher Victoria Scholl (NUSO) returns after collecting previously deployed scale bar and ground control point survey targets along the Paleocene Poison Canyon Formation in the Cimarron Canyon, New Mexico.

UAS ground control point survey targets deployed along the Cimarron Canyon in New Mexico

One of the ground control point survey targets deployed along the Paleocene Poison Canyon Formation in the Cimarron Canyon and used to provide accurate GPS data during the UAS data collection flights.

USGS scientist Mark Bauer reviews the imagery being acquired from a UAS at the Cimarron Canyon in New Mexico

USGS scientist Victoria Scholl (NUSO) places a scale bar and ground control point survey target along the Paleocene Poison Canyon Formation in the Cimarron Canyon. GPS data from these targets and derived from the UAS collected imagery helps ensure high positional and geometric accuracy of georeferenced data products including 3D models.

USGS remote pilot Todd Burton replaces UAS batteries during a mission at the Cimarron Canyon in New Mexico. Batteries last for only around 15 minutes, therefore a minimum of six sets are typically taken into the field which allows each used set to be cooled down, recharged, and then reused in the field.

Prior to the UAS flights USGS researchers Amy Gilmer, Theresa Schwartz, and Victoria Scholl hike up Cimarron Canyon in New Mexico to place ground control targets and scale bars.