3DEP has been contracting with commercial lidar companies to conduct a small number of topobathymetric lidar surveys, mainly of inland rivers. Topobathymetric lidar uses a green laser that can penetrate the water surface, unlike the red near-infrared lasers that are typically used for mapping land surface topography. The lidar surveys are targeted in areas with immediate science applications for the data (i.e. fish habitat restoration, dam removal studies, drinking water protection, flood inundation modeling, hydrologic modeling, etc.) and where bathymetric lidar is likely to be successful based on favorable environmental conditions. The results of pilot topobathymetric lidar surveys are helping USGS develop recommendations on collection parameters for inland water bodies related to river bottom type, turbidity, and depth, and to operationalize the process of contracting and validating the data.
USGS is working towards a more systematic approach to acquiring and managing topobathymetric data, including refining collection requirements and data validation methods; participating in interagency efforts on topobathymetric lidar specifications, and conducting research on emerging technologies. The 3DEP topobathymetric elevation data acquisition strategy is driven by the requirements of USGS science and Federal, State, Tribal and local partners, and where the aquatic environmental conditions are favorable for topobathymetric lidar.
The USGS Coastal National Elevation Database (CoNED) Applications Project has been spatially integrating disparate topographic lidar, topobathymetric lidar, and sonar data for the U.S. coastal zone since 2012. Technical knowledge gained from this USGS CoNED effort is being used to build integrated topobathymetric elevation models at a 1-meter spatial resolution for inland areas. Spatial gaps are filled with sonar or other data where the water is too deep or turbid for lidar to detect the river bottom, thereby creating merged, continuous topobathymetric digital elevation models for select rivers and lakes.
The USGS is advancing the inland topobathymetric component of 3DEP by
Published USGS inland bathymetry lidar datasets are available here:
USGS integrated topobathymetric elevation models are available here:
Inland bathymetry and CoNED topobathymetric models are also available here:
The USGS Inland Bathymetric and Topobathymetric Survey Inventory is updated annually to help make bathymetry data collected by the USGS more easily discoverable. The Inventory is a database with links to data and project footprints for published USGS bathymetry surveys and is also provided as a web feature service. The Inventory is available to the public via the ScienceBase Catalog.
Other bathymetry data sources:
