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Aerial Imagery of the Florida Gulf Coast: 2024-10-01 to 2024-10-04, Post-Hurricane Helene

Metadata Updated: September 24, 2025

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Remote Sensing Coastal Change (RSCC) project collects aerial imagery along coastal swaths with optimized endlap/sidelap and precise position information to create high-resolution orthomosaics, three-dimensional (3D) point clouds, and digital elevation/surface models (DEMs/DSMs) using Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry methods. These products are valuable for measuring topographic and landscape change, and for understanding coastal vulnerability and response to disturbance events. A nadir (vertical) aerial imagery survey was conducted from Honeymoon Island to Big Hickory Island, Florida between October 1st and October 4th, 2024, to document post-storm conditions after the passage of Hurricane Helene on September 26, 2024. The observations along the coastline cover an approximately 245-kilometer-long by 300 to 700-meter-wide swath of coastline and encompass impacted areas including both highly developed towns, such as Captiva Island, Sanibel Island, and Fort Myers Beach, as well as natural, undeveloped areas, including Cayo Costa and Lovers Key State Beaches. Low altitude (300 meters above ground level) digital aerial imagery were acquired with a manned, fixed-wing aircraft using the "Precision Airborne Camera (PAC)" System (version 2). The PAC system is operated by C.W. Wright and consists of a mounted fixed-lens digital camera, along with a custom integrated survey-grade Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver. Data were collected in shore-parallel lines, flying at approximately 50 meters per second (m/s) and capturing true color imagery at 1 hertz (Hz), resulting in image footprints with approximately 75-80% endlap, 60-70% sidelap, and a 5.3-centimeter (cm) ground sample distance (GSD). The precise time of each image capture (flash event) was recorded, and the corresponding aircraft position was computed during post-processing of the GNSS data. Precise image positions can then be determined by accounting for the lever arm offsets between the aircraft GNSS antenna and the camera lens, which are provided in the PAC System metadata (Kranenburg and others, 2023, https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/data-services/rscc/PrecisionAirborneCameraSystem). Position data, provided as latitude/longitude/ellipsoid height, is referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 National Spatial Reference System 2011 (NAD83(2011)) coordinate system.

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.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date September 14, 2025
Metadata Updated Date September 24, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 14, 2025
Metadata Updated Date September 24, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-d6eed1fb-4c44-4bdd-a58f-c253fffa8dc0
Data Last Modified 2024-12-06T00:00:00Z
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 c3a5f845-23e0-4292-b7d0-8980bb8e2c8f
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -82.8517282827, 26.3588747502, -81.8579748311, 28.1154252293
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 1dd9147d972e5ddc66b9a9b612581a2b69f9bb482caad8ac7b7aedd986cb4c7f
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -82.8517282827, 26.3588747502, -82.8517282827, 28.1154252293, -81.8579748311, 28.1154252293, -81.8579748311, 26.3588747502, -82.8517282827, 26.3588747502}

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