USGS to resume surveillance flights next year

Feds updating nationwide inventory of high-resolution geophysical data

Aerial assessments of underground minerals, topography, and environmental hazards by the federal government are underway in southeast South Dakota.

But winter weather is temporarily grounding the low-level flights that began this fall in the region as the U.S. Geological Survey’s mission to update its nationwide inventory of high-resolution geophysical data continues.

The Department of the Interior agency earlier this fall rolled out its Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI), funded by President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The program works with state geological surveys and private contractors to study mineral resources and subsurface characteristics in the Sioux Falls area, which includes portions of northwest Iowa and southwest Minnesota.

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