U.S. Geological Survey
2007
EAARL Topography-Cape Cod National Seashore
Open File Report
2007-1375
St. Petersburg, FL
USGS
The United States Geological Survey, FISC St. Petersburg, in cooperation with the National Park Service (NPS) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), is to provide the coastal management community with usable, useful digital elevation products. The USGS processes aircraft lidar data (provided by NASA), develops software tools and algorithms to use and analyze the data and make products available to the coastal management community through a variety of media, including the internet, CD-ROMs, DVDs and data reports.
http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2007/1375/start.html
Elevation maps (also known as Digital Elevation Models or DEMs) of Cape Cod National Seashore were produced from remotely-sensed, geographically-referenced elevation measurements in cooperation with NASA and NPS. Point data in ascii text files were interpolated in a GIS to create a grid or digital elevation model (DEM) of each beach surface. Elevation measurements were collected in Massachusetts, over Cape Cod National Seashore using the NASA Experimental Advanced Airborne Research LiDAR (EAARL), a pulsed laser ranging system mounted onboard an aircraft to measure ground elevation and coastal topography. The system uses high frequency laser beams directed at the earth's surface through an opening in the bottom of the aircraft's fuselage. The laser system records the time difference between emission of the laser beam and the reception of the reflected laser signal in the aircraft. The plane travels over the beach at approximately 60 meters per second while surveying from the low-water line to the landward base of the sand dunes. The EAARL, developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) located at Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, measures ground elevation with a vertical resolution of 15 centimeters. A sampling rate of 3 kHz or higher results in an extremely dense spatial elevation data set. Over 100 kilometers of coastline can be easily surveyed within a 3- to 4-hour mission time period. The ability to sample large areas rapidly and accurately is especially useful in morphologically dynamic areas such as barrier beaches. Quick assessment of topographic change can be made following storms comparing measurements against baseline data. When subsequent elevation maps for an area are analyzed, they provide a useful tool to make management decisions regarding coastal development.
For more information on Lidar science and the Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar (EAARL) system and surveys, see http://ngom.usgs.gov/dsp/overview/index.php and http://ngom.usgs.gov/dsp/tech/eaarl/index.php .
One goal of the project is to produce highly detailed and accurate digital elevation maps of National Seashores and coastal parks for use as a management tool and to make these maps available to natural resource managers within the parks.
Raw Lidar data is not in a format that is generally usable by National Park Service resource managers and scientists for scientific analysis. Converting dense Lidar elevation data into a readily usable format without loss of essential information requires specialized processing. The USGS converts raw Lidar data into a GIS-compatible map product to be provided to Park Service GIS specialists, managers, and scientists. The primary tool used in the conversion process is Airborne Lidar Processing System (ALPS), a multitiered processing system developed by a USGS/NASA collaborative for the use of topographic Lidar in coastal change assessment. Specialized processing algorithms are used to convert raw waveform Lidar data acquired by the EAARL to georeferenced spot (x,y,z) returns for "first surface" and "bare earth" topography. These data are then converted to the NAD83 horizontal and NAVD88 vertical datum (using the Geoid 99 model). The final products are 2x2-km map tiles written out in a standard geotiff format with associated metadata information. These tiles are created for visual interpretation and regional quantitative analysis. Metadata files include the standard FGDC format.
20050504
ground condition
Unknown
-80.205183
-80.104639
25.4769585
25.313834
USGS Metadata Identifier
USGS:9c3d479e-003b-43b7-8b91-adf2ad0c12dd
ISO 19115 Topic Category
elevation
None
Lidar
Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar
digital elevation model
elevation change
laser altimetry
derived surface
resource management
bare earth elevation
ALPS
Airborne Lidar Processing System
Data Categories for Marine Planning
distributions
bathymetry and elevation
Marine Realms Information Bank (MRIB) Keywords
altimetry
topographic mapping
USGS Thesaurus
LIDAR
topography
digital elevation models
None
Cape Cod National Seashore
Atlantic Coast
Massachusetts
United States East Coast
None
Bare earth topography
None
20050504
Any use of these data signifies a user's agreement to comprehension and compliance of the USGS Standard Disclaimer. Ensure all portions of metadata are read and clearly understood before using these data in order to protect both user and USGS interests. See section 6.3 Distribution Liability.
Although the USGS is making these data sets available to others who may find the data of value, the USGS does not warrant, endorse, or recommend the use of these data setse for any given purpose. The user assumes the entire risk related to the use of these data. These data sets are not for navigational purposes. The USGS is providing these data "as is", and the USGS disclaims any and all warranties, whether expressed or implied, including (without limitation) any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. In no event will the USGS be liable to you or to any third party for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, special, or exemplary damages or lost profits resulting from any use or misuse of these data.Acknowledgement of the U.S. Geological Survey, FISC St. Petersburg office, as a data source would be appreciated in products developed from these data, and such acknowledgement as is standard for citation and legal practices for data source is expected by users of this data. Sharing new data layers developed directly from these data would also be appreciated by the USGS staff. Users should be aware that comparisons with other data sets for the same area from other time periods may be inaccurate due to inconsistencies resulting from changes in photo interpretation, mapping conventions, and digital processes over time. These data are not legal documents and are not to be used as such.
United States Geological Survey, FISC St. Petersburg
Dr. John C. Brock
Physical Oceanographer
mailing and physical address
600 4th Street South
St. Petersburg
FL
33701
USA
727 803-8747 ext3088
727 803-2031
jbrock@usgs.gov
Monday-Friday, 8-5, EST
http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2007/1375/HTML/images/CACO_Tile_inset2.gif
EAARL Topography - Cape Cod National Seashore
GIF
The USGS FISC St. Petersburg office, would like to acknowledge NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the National Park Service for their cooperation and assistance in the development of the data. The USGS would also like to acknowledge park management and personnel at Cape Cod National Seashore.
Microsoft Windows XP Version 5.1 (Build 2600) Service Pack 2; ESRI ArcMap 9.1.0.722; ERDAS Imagine 8.7; ESRI ArcCatalog 9.1.0.722
Brock, J.C.; Wright, C.W.; Sallenger, A.H; Krabill, W.B., and Swift, R.N
2002
Basis and Methods of NASA Ariborne Topographic Mapper Lidar Surveys for Coastal Studies
journal article
Journal of Coastal Research
Vol. 18, No. 1, pp.1-13
West Palm Beach, FL
Journal of Coastal Research
John Brock and Asbury Sallenger, US Geological Survey
2001
Airborne Topographic Lidar Mapping for Coastal Science and Resource Management
USGS Open File Report
St. Petersburg, FL
US Geological Survey
The expected accuracy of the measured variables is as follows: attitude within 0.07 degree, 3-cm nominal ranging accuracy, and verticle elevation accuracy of +/- 15cm (bare earth). Quality checks are built into the data-processing software.
Each file contains data located in a 2-km by 2-km tile, where the upper-left bound can be assessed quickly through the file name. The first 3 numbers in the file name represent the left-most UTM easting coordinate (e###000) in meters, the next 4 numbers represent the top-most UTM northing coordinate (n####000) in meters, and the last 2 numbers (##) represent the UTM zone in which the tile is located (for example, ba_e123_n4567_20).
Several regions of the dataset are labeled as "No Data", which corresponds to a cell value of -100 m in the GeoTiff file. These "No Data" areas are a result of the survey not covering a particular region, optical water depth of greater than 1.5 Secchi disc depths, or the manual removal of lidar processing artifacts.
Raw elevation measurements have been determined to be within 1.5 meter horizontal accuracy. Processing steps (grid interpolation) may introduce additional error which has not been tested at the time of this publication.
Elevations of the DEM are vertically consistent with the point elevation data, +/- 15cm.
The data are collected using a Cessna 310 aircraft. The NASA Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar (EAARL) laser scanner collects the data using a green (532nm) raster scanning laser, while a digital camera acquires a visual record of the flight. The data are stored on hard drives and archived at the USGS FISC St. Petersburg office and the NASA Wallops office. The navigational data are processed at Wallops. The navigational and raw data are then downloaded into the Airborne Lidar Processing System (ALPS). Data are converted from units of time to x,y,z points for elevation. The derived surface data can then be converted into raster data (geotiffs).
20050504
United States Geological Survey, FISC St. Petersburg
Amar Nayegandhi
Computer Scientist
mailing and physical address
600 4th Street South
St. Petersburg
FL
33701
USA
727-803-8747
8:00am to 5:00pm Monday thru Friday, EST
Call Survey for Details
The raster dataset was opened in ERDAS IMAGINE for editing. An Area of Interest (AOI) polygon was drawn around regions of poor data quality. Poor data quality was determined visually by locating gaps in the data as well as artifacts (e.g. spikes, large facets) of the Lidar processing. Pixels within the AOI polygons were given a raster value of -100 to correspond with the classification of 'No Data'
20070101
United States Geological Survey, FISC St. Petersburg
mailing and physical address
600 4th Street South
St. Petersburg
FL
33701
USA
727-803-8747
8:30-5:00 M-F EST
Metadata imported into ArcCatalog from XML file.
20070501
United States Geological Survey, FISC St. Petersburg
mailing and physical address
600 4th Street South
St. Petersburg
FL
33701
USA
727 803-8747
8:30-5:00 M-F EST
Keywords section of metadata optimized for discovery in USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Data Catalog.
20170124
U.S. Geological Survey
Alan O. Allwardt
Contractor -- Information Specialist
mailing and physical address
2885 Mission Street
Santa Cruz
CA
95060
831-460-7551
831-427-4748
aallwardt@usgs.gov
Added keywords section with USGS persistent identifier as theme keyword.
20201013
U.S. Geological Survey
VeeAnn A. Cross
Marine Geologist
Mailing and Physical
384 Woods Hole Road
Woods Hole
MA
02543-1598
508-548-8700 x2251
508-457-2310
vatnipp@usgs.gov
Raster
Pixel
2000
2000
1
Universal Transverse Mercator
19
0.999600
-69.000000
0.000000
500000.000000
0.000000
row and column
1.000000
1.000000
meters
North American Datum of 1983
Geodetic Reference System 80
6378137.000000
298.257222
North American Vertical Datum of 1988
.15
meters
Explicit elevation coordinate included with horizontal coordinates
The attributes measured are as follows: variables measured by EAARL - distance between aircraft and GPS satellites (m), attitude information (roll, pitch, heading in degrees), scan angle (degrees), second of the epoch (sec), 1-ns time-resolved return intensity waveform (digital counts), and co-registered digital aerial photography. For derived variables, WGS84, NAD83 or other UTM eastings and northings (m), NAVD88 elevations (m), and peak amplitude (intensity). For derived surfaces, bare-earth elevations, and first-return elevations.
This Digital Elevation Model is a Geotiff derived from point data referenced to WGS84, NAD83 UTM eastings and northings (m). The variables measured by EAARL are: distance between aircraft and GPS satellites (m), attitude information (roll, pitch, heading in degrees), scan angle (degrees), second of the epoch (sec), and 1-ns time-resolved return intensity waveform (digital counts). It is raster data consisting of cells. Each cell has an elevation value associated with it. Cell size is 1 meter by 1 meter.
United States Geological Survey, FISC St. Petersburg
mailing and physical address
600 4th Street South
St. Petersburg
FL
33701
USA
727-803-8747
8:30-5:00 M-F EST
Call USGS for Details
OFR_2007-1375
Neither the United States Geological Survey nor the National Park Service shall be held liable for improper or incorrect use of the data described and/or contained herein. These data and related graphics are not legal documents and are not intended to be used as such.The information contained in these data is dynamic and may change over time. The data are not better than the original sources from which they were derived. It is the responsibility of the data user to use the data appropriately and consistent within the limitations of geospatial data in general and these data in particular. The related graphics are intended to aid the data user in acquiring relevant data; it is not appropriate to use the related graphics as data.The United States Geological Survey gives no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of these data. It is strongly recommended that these data are directly acquired from a USGS server and not indirectly through other sources which may have changed the data in some way. Although these data have been processed successfully on a computer system at the United States Geological Survey, no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the utility of the data on another system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. This disclaimer applies both to individual use of the data and aggregate use with other data.
TIFF
http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2007/1375/HTML/raw_data.html
Data can be downloaded via the World Wide Web (WWW)
DVD-ROM
DVD-ROM
Vary
Call USGS for details
Call USGS for Details
20050504
20211109
United States Geological Survey, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
SPCMSC Data Management Group
mailing and physical address
600 4th Street South
St. Petersburg
Florida
33701
US
727-502-8000
gs-g-spcmsc_data_inquiries@usgs.gov
Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata
FGDC-STD-001-1998