. NOAA NCEI Digital Elevation Models

Abstract
Coastal flooding can cause fatalities, damage to infrastructure, and economic disruption. The speed and height of ocean waves are controlled by ocean depth (i.e., bathymetry), and the inland extent of flooding is primarily determined by the coastal land topography. Therefore, accurate, integrated bathymetric-topographic digital elevation models (DEMs) are needed to determine the timing and extent of coastal flooding. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), through its partnership with the University of Colorado Boulder via the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CRIES), develops DEMs to support the modeling of ocean, coastal and surface processes and improve event forecasting and warning systems.