Digital Elevation Models from NOAA/NGDC

Digital elevation models (DEMs) of U.S. coasts that integrate ocean bathymetry and land topography to support NOAA's mission to understand and predict changes in Earth's environment, and conserve and manage coastal and marine resources to meet our Nation's economic, social, and environmental needs. These models, built and distributed by NOAA?s National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC), utilize bathymetric, topographic, and shoreline data obtained from various sources, including NGDC, the U.S. National Ocean Service (NOS), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and other federal, state, and local government agencies, academic institutions, and private companies. DEMs are referenced to a variety of vertical tidal datums, generally mean high water (MHW) or North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88), and a horizontal datum of North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83) or World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS84). DEM cell sizes range from high-resolution models (1/9 to 1/3 arc-second; ~3 to 10 meters) that support coastal inundation studies, to regional models (roughly 3 to 24 arc-seconds) that extend farther offshore, to global models (1 arc-minute; ~2 km).

Data and Resources

Field Value
accessLevel public
accrualPeriodicity irregular
bureauCode {006:48}
catalog_@context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
catalog_conformsTo https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
catalog_describedBy https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
identifier gov.noaa.ngdc:ngdc_dems
language {en-US}
modified 2006-01-01
old-spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-180.0, -90.0], [180.0, -90.0], [180.0, 90.0], [-180.0, 90.0], [-180.0, -90.0]]]}
programCode {006:059}
publisher DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NGDC > National Geophysical Data Center, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce (Point of Contact)
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash 43f6f6e685bf81ffe8456c4011bba16e6f2fd1b2
source_schema_version 1.1
spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-180.0, -90.0], [180.0, -90.0], [180.0, 90.0], [-180.0, 90.0], [-180.0, -90.0]]]}
Groups
  • AmeriGEOSS
  • National Provider
  • North America
Tags
  • amerigeo
  • amerigeoss
  • boulder
  • boulder-world-data-center-for-marine-geology-and-geophysics
  • ckan
  • coastal-relief
  • continent-north-america-united-states-of-america
  • dem-digital-elevation-model
  • doc-noaa-nesdis-ngdc-national-geophysical-data-center
  • earth-science-land-surface-topography-terrain-elevation
  • earth-science-land-surface-topography-topographical-relief
  • earth-science-oceans-bathymetry-seafloor-topography-bathymetry
  • earth-science-oceans-bathymetry-seafloor-topography-seafloor-topography
  • earth-science-oceans-bathymetry-seafloor-topography-water-depth
  • earth-science-oceans-coastal-processes-coastal-elevation
  • elevation-theme
  • geo
  • geoss
  • gridded-elevations
  • national
  • national-geospatial-data-asset
  • nesdis
  • ngda
  • noaa
  • north-america
  • ocean-atlantic-ocean-north-atlantic-ocean
  • ocean-atlantic-ocean-north-atlantic-ocean-caribbean-sea
  • ocean-atlantic-ocean-north-atlantic-ocean-gulf-of-mexico
  • ocean-pacific-ocean-central-pacific-ocean-hawaiian-islands
  • ocean-pacific-ocean-north-pacific-ocean
  • ocean-pacific-ocean-north-pacific-ocean-gulf-of-alaska
  • u-s-department-of-commerce
  • united-states
  • vertical-location-land-surface
  • vertical-location-sea-floor
  • wdc-mgg
isopen False
license_id notspecified
license_title License not specified
maintainer DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NGDC > National Geophysical Data Center, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce
maintainer_email dem.info@noaa.gov
metadata_created 2025-11-19T22:20:27.279318
metadata_modified 2025-11-19T22:20:27.279326
notes Digital elevation models (DEMs) of U.S. coasts that integrate ocean bathymetry and land topography to support NOAA's mission to understand and predict changes in Earth's environment, and conserve and manage coastal and marine resources to meet our Nation's economic, social, and environmental needs. These models, built and distributed by NOAA?s National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC), utilize bathymetric, topographic, and shoreline data obtained from various sources, including NGDC, the U.S. National Ocean Service (NOS), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and other federal, state, and local government agencies, academic institutions, and private companies. DEMs are referenced to a variety of vertical tidal datums, generally mean high water (MHW) or North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88), and a horizontal datum of North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83) or World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS84). DEM cell sizes range from high-resolution models (1/9 to 1/3 arc-second; ~3 to 10 meters) that support coastal inundation studies, to regional models (roughly 3 to 24 arc-seconds) that extend farther offshore, to global models (1 arc-minute; ~2 km).
num_resources 13
num_tags 36
title Digital Elevation Models from NOAA/NGDC