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The Arctic Beaver Observation Network (A-BON): Tracking a new disturbance regime project observes beaver engineering across circumarctic treeline and tundra environments during the last half-century by mapping and tracking beaver ponds using remote sensing imagery. Drones are being used to collect baseline data and track beaver dam building and pond evolution over time. This dataset consists of orthomosaic images and digital surface models (DSMs) derived from drone surveys on 02 April and 09 April 2024 for three beaver dam and beaver pond sites (Kotz3, BWest, and BEast) on the Baldwin Peninsula, Alaska. Digital images were acquired from a DJI Phantom 4 Real-Time Kinematic (DJI P4RTK) quadcopter with a DJI D-RTK 2 Mobile Base Station. The drone system was flown at 120 meters (m) above ground level (agl) and flight speeds varied from 8-9 meters/second (m/s). The orientation of the camera was set to 90 degrees (i.e. looking straight down). The along-track overlap and across-track overlap of the mission were set at 80% and 70%, respectively. All images were processed in the software Pix4D Mapper (v. 4.8.4) using the standard 3D Maps workflow and the accurate geolocation and orientation calibration method to produce the orthophoto mosaic and digital surface model at spatial resolutions of 5 and 10 centimeters (cm), respectively. Elevation information represents the snow-covered surface. A Leica Viva differential global positioning system (GPS) provided ground control for the mission and the data were post-processed to WGS84 UTM Zone 3 North in Ellipsoid Heights (meters).
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Orthomosaics, Digital Surface Models, and Multispectral Image Composites for Arctic Beaver Observation Network (ABON) Sites across Arctic Alaska in August 2024
This dataset contains orthomosaics, digital surface models (DSMs), and multispectral image composites for nine Arctic Beaver Observation Network (ABON) sites surveyed in August 2024. The data were collected to support research on the impacts of beaver engineering on tundra hydrology, vegetation, and permafrost dynamics across Arctic Alaska. Drone-based imagery was acquired using a DJI Mavic 3 Multispectral quadcopter equipped with a DJI D-RTK 2 Mobile Base Station for real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning. At each site, flight missions were conducted at 120 meters (m) above ground level with 80% along-track and 70% across-track overlap, using a nadir-oriented camera (90°) and the hover-and-capture-at-point mode. The resulting products include: (1) (Red, Green, Blue) RGB orthomosaics with a ground sampling distance of 5 centimeters (cm), (2) Digital Surface Models (DSMs) with 10 cm spatial resolution, and (3) multispectral composites (green, red, red edge, near-infrared bands) at 10 cm resolution. Radiometric calibration was performed using images of a MicaSense calibrated reflectance panel, and a Leica Viva differential global positioning system (GPS) provided ground control for the mission and the data were post-processed to WGS84 UTM Zone 3 North. All images were processed in Pix4D Mapper (v. 4.10.0). Elevation information derived over waterbodies is noisy and does not represent the surface elevation of the feature. These high-resolution datasets provide baseline observations of beaver pond morphology and vegetation dynamics, enabling long-term monitoring of ecosystem changes driven by beaver activity in Arctic tundra landscapes.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2114051
- PAR ID:
- 10629125
- Publisher / Repository:
- NSF Arctic Data Center
- Date Published:
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- Arctic Beaver Remote Sensing Tundra
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Other: text/xml
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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