Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Skip to content

1. High-resolution Thermal Infrared and True-color Imagery Mosaics, Longitudinal Stream Temperature Profiles, and Thermal Points of Interest from Airborne Surveys of the Quillayute River Basin, August 2022

Metadata Updated: September 15, 2025

This dataset presents high-resolution thermal infrared (TIR) and true-color RGB (red, green, blue) imagery mosaics, longitudinal stream temperature profiles, thermal points of interest, and river centerlines from airborne surveys of the Quillayute, Dickey, Sol Duc, Calawah, South Fork Calawah, Sitkum, and Bogachiel Rivers (203 river kilometers; 126 river miles total). All datasets were produced and initially processed by NV5 Geospatial (NV5). The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) performed additional processing of the longitudinal stream temperature profiles and thermal points of interest, as described below. TIR and RGB images were acquired by NV5 on August 29-31, 2022, using a FLIR SC6000 LWIR sensor and a Sony Alpha 7R III camera mounted in a fiberglass enclosure to a Bell 206 Long Range helicopter. Images were acquired during afternoon hours to maximize the thermal contrast between the river water and the banks. At a flying altitude of 350-450 m (1,148-1,476 ft) above ground level, the FLIR SC6000 and Sony Alpha 7R III achieved ground sampling distances of less than 50 cm (20 in.) and 10 cm (4 in.), respectively. TIR imagery mosaics (.tif) for individual surveys and a single RGB imagery mosaic (.sid) for the entire study area were developed by NV5, and river centerlines (.shp) were manually digitized by NV5 using the imagery mosaics as guides. Points were then generated by NV5 every 50 m (164 ft) along the centerlines to quantify the longitudinal stream temperature profiles (LTPs; .shp). Summary statistics, in degrees Celsius, were computed by NV5 for each point in the profile by sampling pixel values of water temperature along the centerline in the corresponding TIR mosaic within a 2-m (6.56 ft) radius buffer around each point. The statistical information was used by USGS to identify sampling points that fall on non-water features such as boulders or bridges, and then filter these points from the final dataset. LTPs assist in identifying the water temperature gradient in the river and changes in the gradient due to the potential influence of thermal exchange processes, such as water inflows (tributaries, lateral groundwater flow, hyporheic flow, etc.) or increased heating from a low percentage of effective riparian shading. These profiles are also an important component of models that estimate water temperature based on climate and land use scenarios. Thermal points of interest (POIs; .shp) were manually identified by NV5 and USGS across the channel, riparian zone, and floodplain. Such features include cold-water anomalies that may represent thermal refuges and serve as salmonid habitat. POIs were classified by USGS as one of four types: (1) tributary; (2) lateral groundwater / side channel / small tributary; (3) hyporheic / diffuse groundwater; or (4) point source effluent. Summary statistics were computed by USGS for each POI using a sample of water temperature values from pixels in the corresponding TIR mosaic within a 0.6-m (1.97 ft) radius buffer around each point. The automated sampling of the POIs included pixels that are not purely water, but instead mixed with other in-stream and riparian features, such as boulders, woody debris, and tree canopy. Therefore, the water temperatures reported for POIs where the 0.6-m radius sampling area contains mixed pixels are often skewed. The POI temperatures should thus serve as indicators where thermal heterogeneity requires additional investigation and potentially more precise quantification. All data is projected in UTM 10N and the horizontal datum is NAD83(2011).

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date September 15, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date September 15, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-6542e4ebd34ee4b6e05be14b
Data Last Modified 2024-07-08T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 4a1907d0-d0f8-436e-a588-be1c46801aff
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -124.6893, 47.8583, -123.8283, 48.0836
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 597fd9393cd7c2d782f83650042eae9cb7b36a37a2a6973675db44d5ba505adf
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -124.6893, 47.8583, -124.6893, 48.0836, -123.8283, 48.0836, -123.8283, 47.8583, -124.6893, 47.8583}

Didn't find what you're looking for? Suggest a dataset here.