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Coastal National Elevation Database (CoNED) Applications Active

By Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center May 15, 2018

Majuro Atoll topobathymetric model

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Mobile Bay Topobathymetric model

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Topobathymetric model for New Jersey and Delaware

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Alaska North Slope LiDAR

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The Coastal National Elevation Database (CoNED) and Applications project at EROS offers information used for a range of applications analysis needed for climate change analysis.      

color image of Gulf of Mexico coast
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Topobathymetric elevation model of the northern Gulf of Mexico, created with the assistance of the Coastal National Elevation Database Applications (CoNED) Project at the U.S. Geological Survey's Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center near Sioux Falls, SD.(Credit: Dean Tyler , U.S. Geological Survey. Public domain.)

High-resolution coastal elevation data is required to identify flood, hurricane, and sea-level rise inundation hazard zones and other earth science applications, such as the development of sediment transport and storm surge models. Light detection and ranging (lidar) enables the rapid collection of very accurate elevation data over large areas, and during the last decade, airborne laser altimetry has been widely applied to map coastal geomorphology, leading to improved knowledge of coastal geomorphic processes. In addition, high-resolution elevation data from lidar has applications to coastal hazard prediction and mitigation, forest and wetland ecology, and benthic habitat structure and ecosystem function. 

During the coming decades, coastlines will respond to widely predicted sea-level rise. Vulnerability maps that depict regions prone to flooding and sea-level rise are essential to planners and managers responsible for mitigating the associated risks and costs to both human communities and ecosystems. InSAR, subaerial lidar, terrestrial lidar, GPS point measurements, topobathymetric lidar, bathymetric lidar, and sonar are key sources of topographic and bathymetric data used to develop detailed, onshore-offshore, cross-ecosystem information on coastal elevation. By progressively constructing enhanced topobathymetric databases for an evolving set of U.S. coastal regions/ecosystems, the USGS Coastal National Elevation Database Applications Project is extending and improving the USGS National Elevation Dataset within coastal regions to enable the widespread creation of flood, hurricane, and sea-level rise inundation hazard maps.

The USGS Coastal National Elevation Database Applications Project provides important information for a range of applications needed for climate change analysis in sensitive coastal regions, including: 

  • Flood hazard mapping and inundation
  • Sea-level rise
  • Sediment transport
  • Storm surge
  • Coastal redevelopment planning
  • Restoration, redevelopment, and protection
  • Cliff metric development and analysis
  • Coastal geomorphology analysis

Below are multimedia items associated with this project.

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Below are publications associated with this project.

Introduction: Special issue on advances in topobathymetric mapping, models, and applications

Detailed knowledge of near-shore topography and bathymetry is required for many geospatial data applications in the coastal environment. New data sources and processing methods are facilitating development of seamless, regional-scale topobathymetric digital elevation models. These elevation models integrate disparate multi-sensor, multi-temporal topographic and bathymetric datasets to provide a co
Authors
Dean B. Gesch, John Brock, Christopher E. Parrish, Jeffrey N. Rogers, C. Wayne Wright
By
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Coastal Changes and Impacts, Coastal National Elevation Database (CoNED) Applications Project
Filter Total Items: 18

Consideration of vertical uncertainty in elevation-based sea-level rise assessments: Mobile Bay, Alabama case study

The accuracy with which coastal topography has been mapped directly affects the reliability and usefulness of elevationbased sea-level rise vulnerability assessments. Recent research has shown that the qualities of the elevation data must be well understood to properly model potential impacts. The cumulative vertical uncertainty has contributions from elevation data error, water level data uncerta
Authors
Dean B. Gesch
By
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Coastal Changes and Impacts, Coastal National Elevation Database (CoNED) Applications Project

Accuracy assessment of a mobile terrestrial lidar survey at Padre Island National Seashore

The higher point density and mobility of terrestrial laser scanning (light detection and ranging (lidar)) is desired when extremely detailed elevation data are needed for mapping vertically orientated complex features such as levees, dunes, and cliffs, or when highly accurate data are needed for monitoring geomorphic changes. Mobile terrestrial lidar scanners have the capability for rapid data col
Authors
Samsung Lim, Cindy A. Thatcher, John Brock, Dustin R. Kimbrow, Jeffrey J. Danielson, B.J. Reynolds
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Wetland and Aquatic Research Center , Coastal Changes and Impacts, Coastal National Elevation Database (CoNED) Applications Project

Introduction to the special issue on “Understanding and predicting change in the coastal ecosystems of the northern Gulf of Mexico”

The coastal region of the northern Gulf of Mexico owes its current landscape structure to an array of tectonic, erosional and depositional, climatic, geochemical, hydrological, ecological, and human processes that have resulted in some of the world's most complex, dynamic, productive, and threatened ecosystems. Catastrophic hurricane landfalls, ongoing subsidence and erosion exacerbated by sea-lev
Authors
John Brock, John A. Barras, S. Jeffress Williams
By
St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Coastal Changes and Impacts, Coastal National Elevation Database (CoNED) Applications Project, Gulf of Mexico

Quantifying landscape change in an arctic coastal lowland using repeat airborne LiDAR

Increases in air, permafrost, and sea surface temperature, loss of sea ice, the potential for increased wave energy, and higher river discharge may all be interacting to escalate erosion of arctic coastal lowland landscapes. Here we use airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data acquired in 2006 and 2010 to detect landscape change in a 100 km2 study area on the Beaufort Sea coastal plain of

Authors
Benjamin M. Jones, Jason M. Stoker, Ann E. Gibbs, Guido Grosse, Vladimir E. Romanovsky, Thomas A. Douglas, Nichole E.M. Kinsman, Bruce M. Richmond
By
Alaska Science Center, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Coastal Changes and Impacts, Coastal National Elevation Database (CoNED) Applications Project

Economic vulnerability to sea-level rise along the northern U.S. Gulf Coast

The northern Gulf of Mexico coast of the United States has been identified as highly vulnerable to sea-level rise, based on a combination of physical and societal factors. Vulnerability of human populations and infrastructure to projected increases in sea level is a critical area of uncertainty for communities in the extremely low-lying and flat northern gulf coastal zone. A rapidly growing popula
Authors
Cindy A. Thatcher, John Brock, Elizabeth A. Pendleton
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center , Coastal Changes and Impacts, Coastal National Elevation Database (CoNED) Applications Project

Using Selective Drainage Methods to Extract Continuous Surface Flow from 1-Meter Lidar-Derived Digital Elevation Data

Digital elevation data commonly are used to extract surface flow features. One source for high-resolution elevation data is light detection and ranging (lidar). Lidar can capture a vast amount of topographic detail because of its fine-scale ability to digitally capture the surface of the earth. Because elevation is a key factor in extracting surface flow features, high-resolution lidar-derived dig
Authors
Sandra K. Poppenga, Bruce B. Worstell, Jason M. Stoker, Susan K. Greenlee
By
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Coastal Changes and Impacts