Florida Reef Tract Seafloor Elevation and Volume Changes from 2016 to 2019

U.S. Geological Survey research quantifies bathymetric changes along the Florida Reef Tract from Miami to Key West. The data release includes elevation-change point data, TIN surface models, lidar DEMs, and change statistics for 17 habitat types within a 939.4 square-kilometer area. Data were derived from NOAA lidar surveys conducted in 2016, 2017, and 2019.

Use Cases

• Modeling coastal erosion and sediment transport based on elevation-change statistics.
• Assessing habitat-specific seafloor volume loss or gain based on analysis across 17 habitat types.
• Calibrating hydrodynamic models using high-resolution lidar-derived digital elevation models.
• Monitoring changes in the Florida Reef Tract over a multi-year period from 2016 to 2019.

Strengths

• Covers a 939.4 square-kilometer study area along the Florida Reef Tract.
• Provides change statistics for 17 distinct marine habitat types.
• Based on lidar-derived digital elevation models from NOAA, a authoritative source.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

United States Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Collection Method

Calculated from NOAA light detection and ranging (lidar)-derived digital elevation models.

Time Range

2016 to 2019

Geography

Florida Reef Tract, USA, from Miami to Key West