NGDC Coastal Relief Model Vol. 08

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Continental US Coastal Grids

NGDC Coastal Relief Model is a new and innovative data product providing a never-before-seen detailed view across the US coastal zone. Our team is using the restructured National Ocean Service (NOS) Hydrographic Database and multibeam bathymetry from GEOMAR Forschungszentrum, the USGS, and various academic institutions. The bathymetric data are then combined with the US Geological Survey DEM grids to assemble a gridded database of coastal zone elevations. These grids are disseminated on CD in a series of volumes eventually covering the entire US coastal zone.

The Coastal Relief Model view extends from the coastal state boundaries to as far offshore as the NOS hydrographic data will support a continuous view of the seafloor. The principal components of the database are 3-arc-second elevation grids 1 degree in latitude by 1 degree in longitude. The product also includes auxiliary grids for non-land areas: a set containing the number of soundings encompassed by each cell and a set containing distances to the nearest original data for each cell. There are also images of shaded relief elevation and bathymetric sounding density. (In areas of no NOS coverage, contour lines are substituted for density on the density images.) Easy access is provided to these images directly from the web page, as well as to the Grid Translator software, which will allow creation of custom grids in a variety of output formats.

To access the grid images simply click on the button above, or click on the outlined area in the map. To design a custom grid in various formats, click on the Design-a-Grid button above, thus launching GEODAS application Grid Translator.

Note: You can also design custom grids by running Grid Translator directly. In Windows: (Start -> Programs -> GEODAS -> Grid Translator). In Xwindows: Run directly from GEODAS Launch Pad.