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South Padre Island, Texas 1/3 Arc-second NAVD 88 Coastal Digital Elevation Model

Published by NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Metadata Last Checked: December 18, 2025 | Last Modified: 2012-05-04T00:00:00.000+00:00
NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) is building high-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) for select U.S. coastal regions. These integrated bathymetric-topographic DEMs are used to support tsunami forecasting and modeling efforts at the NOAA Center for Tsunami Research, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL). The DEMs are part of the tsunami forecast system SIFT (Short-term Inundation Forecasting for Tsunamis) currently being developed by PMEL for the NOAA Tsunami Warning Centers, and are used in the MOST (Method of Splitting Tsunami) model developed by PMEL to simulate tsunami generation, propagation, and inundation. Bathymetric, topographic, and shoreline data used in DEM compilation are obtained from various sources, including NGDC, the U.S. National Ocean Service (NOS), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Canadian Hydrographic Service (CHS), the Puget Sound Lidar Consortium (PSLC), the Joint Airborne Lidar Bathymetry Technical Center of Expertise (JALBTCX), Canadian Digital Elevation Data (CDED) and other international, federal, state, and local government agencies, academic institutions, and private companies. DEMs are referenced to the vertical tidal datums of Mean High Water (MHW) and North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88) and horizontal datum of World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS 84). Grid spacings for the DEMs range from 1/3 arc-second (~10 meters) to 3 arc-seconds (~30 meters).

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