Radar Image Data from the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System (ISEGS) Facility Recorded by the USGS during Spring and Fall 2014

In this observational pilot study, we worked at the largest existing solar tower facility in the world (Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System - ISEGS) to assess the efficacy of using radar, surveillance video, and insect trapping to monitor animals flying near the towers. During week-long site visits in May and September, we monitored the airspace surrounding towers and observed insects, occasional birds, and bats under a variety of environmental and operational conditions. This dataset consists of raster portable network graphics (png) images of the planned position indicator (ppi) display from a Furuno FR2127 portable radar unit to a maximum range of 1.5 km. A new image is written with each rotation of the radar's antenna every ~2.5 seconds yielding over 500,000 images in this study. The vast majority of radar scatterers detected by the radar represent flying animals, both vertebrates and invertebrates. Locational Information Associated with the Towers from which Recordings were Captured: Tower 1 Recording start date: 9/7/2014 Recording end date: 9/11/2014 Easting (X location, UTM meters): 639348 Northing (Y location, UTM meters): 3933455 UTM Zone: 11 North Altitude above sea level (meters): 915 Elevation angle (meters): 6.5 Tower 2 Recording start date: 9/3/2014 Recording end date: 9/7/2014 Easting (X location, UTM meters): 637708 Northing (Y location, UTM meters): 3936197 UTM Zone: 11 North Altitude above sea level (meters): 968 Elevation angle (meters): 4.2 Tower 3 Recording start date: 5/11/2014 Recording end date: 5/22/2014 Easting (X location, UTM meters): 637362 Northing (Y location, UTM meters): 3938890 UTM Zone: 11 North Altitude above sea level (meters): 985 Elevation angle (meters): 9.0 Coordinate information based on UTM Projection, Zone 11 (Datum: NAD 1983_CORS96, Ellipsoid: GRS_1980)