High-accuracy infrared thermography of cotton canopy temperature by unmanned aerial systems (UAS): Evaluating in-season prediction of yield

•Accuracy and resolution are often lacking in infrared cameras used in phenotyping•A highly accurate UAS-mounted thermal camera was tested on cotton•Crop canopy was easily isolated from soil using a simple threshold method•In-season canopy temperature and seed cotton yield were linearly related•The relationship ranged from weak to strong, depending on growing conditions