NOAA VDatum Digital Elevation Model (DEM) Project

NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) is building high-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) of the central Gulf of Mexico coast for NOAA's Coast Survey Development Laboratory (CSDL). These integrated bathymetric-topographic DEMs were developed to demonstrate the utility of NOAA's Vertical Datum Transformation tool (VDatum), developed jointly by NOAA's Office of Coast Survey (OCS), National Geodetic Survey (NGS), and Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS).

Bathymetric, topographic, and shoreline data used in DEM compilation are obtained from various sources, including NGDC, the U.S. Coastal Services Center (CSC), the U.S. Office of Coast Survey (OCS), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and other federal, state, and local government agencies, academic institutions, and private companies. DEMs are referenced to the vertical tidal datum of North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88) or Mean High Water (MHW) and horizontal datum of North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83) geographic. Cell size ranges from 1/3 arc-second (~10 meters) to 1 arc-second (~30 meters).

The NOAA VDatum DEM Project was funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 (http://www.recovery.gov/).

DEMs built for NOAA's Coast Survey Development Laboratory are now available for download from this web site.

How to Cite DEMs:

For each DEM, cite the accompanying DEM Development Report.