USGS scientists hike up Cimarron Canyon in New Mexico to place UAS ground targets

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. During this project a Sony A7r camera mounted on a UAS was used to collect overlapping imagery that allowed USGS Geologists to measure stratigraphic layers on vertical rock faces in areas inaccessible by traditional on-foot surveys.

NUSO researchers worked with USGS geologists in September 2021 to establish and test unique photogrammetric data collection techniques utilizing UAS along the Paleocene Poison Canyon Formation in the Cimarron Canyon.