Digital Elevation Models for a Chesapeake Bay Wetland with Correction Methods

ORNL_CLOUD provides four 1-meter resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) and performance metrics for the Global Change Research Wetland in Maryland, USA, from 2016. The dataset compares three LiDAR bias-correction strategies and one kriging-based model, calibrated against a ground survey of 525 points. It supports research on elevation modeling in vegetated tidal marshes.

Use Cases

• Comparing the performance of LiDAR correction methods like LEAN and vegetation-specific offsets using provided statistical metrics.
• Analyzing marsh elevation relative to tidal datums (NAVD 88) for flood risk or habitat studies.
• Studying the relationship between plant cover and elevation bias in geospatial models.
• Using the high-resolution (1m) DEMs for hydrological or ecological modeling of the Rhode River site.
• Applying Empirical Bayesian Kriging techniques for elevation interpolation between ground survey points.

Strengths

• Dataset includes a high-precision ground truth survey of 525 points collected with RTK GPS from July-August 2016.
• Provides four distinct DEMs at 1-meter resolution, enabling direct methodological comparison for a single site.
• Covers a specific tidal wetland complex with documented vegetation cover and tidal datum calculations.

Limitations

• Specific column names and the total row/pixel count for the DEMs are not provided by any source.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates exist between platforms (2016-08 15 and 2026-03-13), indicating potential metadata inconsistency.
• The dataset's spatial coverage is limited to a single wetland site for one year (2016), with LiDAR base data from 2011.

Provenance

Source

ORNL_CLOUD

Collection Method

DEMs derived from 2011 LiDAR data, corrected using three strategies and one kriging method, calibrated with a 2016 RTK GPS ground survey.

Time Range

2011-2016

Freshness

2026-03-13 03:22:33.442695

Geography

Global Change Research Wetland (GCReW) on the Rhode River, Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, USA.