U.S. Maritime Limits and Boundaries from NOAA Charts

NOAA's dataset depicts the official U.S. maritime zones, including the 12 nautical mile Territorial Sea, 24 nautical mile Contiguous Zone, and 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone. It results from a multi-year, interagency project launched in 2002 to re-evaluate the U.S. baseline using the largest scale nautical charts. The dataset also includes international maritime boundaries with adjacent countries and the U.S./Canada land and Great Lakes boundary.

Use Cases

• Analyze the spatial extent of the 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone for marine resource management.
• Map the 12 nautical mile Territorial Sea baseline for coastal security and jurisdictional analysis.
• Compare the 24 nautical mile Contiguous Zone boundaries with adjacent international maritime boundaries for treaty verification.
• Use the U.S. baseline data, derived from NOAA charts, for coastal change and sea level rise impact studies.

Strengths

• Data is the product of a formal, multi-year interagency review process chaired by the U.S. Department of State.
• Based on NOAA's largest scale and most recent edition nautical charts for accuracy.
• Includes three legally distinct maritime zones (Territorial Sea, Contiguous Zone, EEZ) and international boundaries.
• Project has been actively maintained and updated since its launch in 2002.

Limitations

• The dataset's underlying source materials (nautical charts) may not reflect the most recent coastal changes due to the iterative, state-by-state review process.
• Specific spatial resolution, precision metrics, or validation reports for the digital boundaries are not provided in the input.
• The input does not specify if all U.S. states and territories have been fully processed in the re-evaluation project.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce.

Collection Method

Digitized from NOAA's largest scale nautical charts and supplemental source materials, reviewed and approved by the interagency U.S. Baseline Committee.

Time Range

Project ongoing from 2002 to present.

Freshness

Last updated March 10, 2026.

Geography

United States of America, including states, territories, and maritime boundaries with adjacent nations.