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OCM Metadata Library > Raster > DEMs >

2023 NOAA Topobathy Lidar DEM: Whitefish Point Lake Superior, MI

Data Set (DS)  |  Office for Coastal Management (OCM)
GUID: gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:79407  |  Updated: March 30, 2026  |  Published / External 
Summary
Item Identification
Keywords
Physical Location
Data Set Info
Support Roles
Extents
Spatial Info
Access Info
Distribution Info
URLs
Data Quality
Data Management
Lineage
Related Items
Catalog Details

Summary

Short Citation
Office for Coastal Management, 2026: 2023 NOAA Topobathy Lidar DEM: Whitefish Point Lake Superior, MI, https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/79407.
Full Citation Examples

Abstract

The Digital Elevation Model includes the grounded classes of class 2, 40, and 43. This raster is tiled out into 23 5000 m x 5000 m tiles. The project AOI covers approximately 161.5 square kilometers, and includes the area from Whitefish Point to Bay Mills, MI in Eastern Lake Superior, the eastern portion of which falls within and EPA's St. Marys River area of concern.

Purpose

The purpose of this proposed bathymetric lidar collection is to build upon existing high resolution coastal and nearshore bathymetry to expand coverage and support benthic habitat mapping in critical priority areas. The importance of high resolution bathymetry in this area of Lake Superior was also identified by multiple regional partners through various need assessments and reporting mechanisms including the Great Lakes prioritization study.

Data Access & Downloads

  • Customized Download
    Format: Not Applicable

    Create custom data files by choosing data area, map projection, file format, etc. A new metadata will be produced to reflect your request using this record as a base.

  • Bulk Download
    GeoTIFF

    Bulk download of data files in GeoTIFF format, UTM Zone 16N NAD83 meters coordinates and elevations in NAVD88(GEOID18) meters.

Access Constraints:

None

Use Constraints:

Users should be aware that temporal changes may have occurred since this data set was collected and some parts of this data may no longer represent actual surface conditions. Users should not use this data for critical applications without a full awareness of its limitations.

Controlled Theme Keywords

COASTAL ELEVATION, DIGITAL ELEVATION/TERRAIN MODEL (DEM), elevation, TERRAIN ELEVATION

URLs

  • NOAA's Office for Coastal Management (OCM) Data Access Viewer (DAV)

    The Data Access Viewer (DAV) allows a user to search for and download elevation, imagery, and land cover data for the coastal U.S. and its territories. The data, hosted by the NOAA Office for Coastal Management, can be customized and requested for free download through a checkout interface. An email provides a link to the customized data, while the original data set is available through a link within the viewer.

  • Lidar Report

    Link to the Tetra Tech lidar report.

Child Items

No Child Items for this record.

Contact Information

Point of Contact
NOAA Office for Coastal Management (NOAA/OCM)
coastal.info@noaa.gov
(843) 740-1202
https://coast.noaa.gov

Metadata Contact
NOAA Office for Coastal Management (NOAA/OCM)
coastal.info@noaa.gov
(843) 740-1202
https://coast.noaa.gov

Extents

Geographic Area 1

-84.999516° W, -84.500963° E, 46.631652° N, 46.431611° S

Time Frame 1
2023-08-08 - 2023-10-26

Item Identification

Title: 2023 NOAA Topobathy Lidar DEM: Whitefish Point Lake Superior, MI
Short Name: mi2023_whtfish_lakesup_dem_m10250
Status: Completed
Creation Date: 2023
Publication Date: 2026
Abstract:

The Digital Elevation Model includes the grounded classes of class 2, 40, and 43. This raster is tiled out into 23 5000 m x 5000 m tiles. The project AOI covers approximately 161.5 square kilometers, and includes the area from Whitefish Point to Bay Mills, MI in Eastern Lake Superior, the eastern portion of which falls within and EPA's St. Marys River area of concern.
Purpose:

The purpose of this proposed bathymetric lidar collection is to build upon existing high resolution coastal and nearshore bathymetry to expand coverage and support benthic habitat mapping in critical priority areas. The importance of high resolution bathymetry in this area of Lake Superior was also identified by multiple regional partners through various need assessments and reporting mechanisms including the Great Lakes prioritization study.

Keywords

Theme Keywords

Thesaurus Keyword
Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Science Keywords
EARTH SCIENCE > LAND SURFACE > TOPOGRAPHY > TERRAIN ELEVATION
Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Science Keywords
EARTH SCIENCE > LAND SURFACE > TOPOGRAPHY > TERRAIN ELEVATION > DIGITAL ELEVATION/TERRAIN MODEL (DEM)
Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Science Keywords
EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > COASTAL PROCESSES > COASTAL ELEVATION
ISO 19115 Topic Category
elevation

Spatial Keywords

Thesaurus Keyword
Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Location Keywords
CONTINENT > NORTH AMERICA > UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Location Keywords
CONTINENT > NORTH AMERICA > UNITED STATES OF AMERICA > MICHIGAN
Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Location Keywords
VERTICAL LOCATION > LAND SURFACE

Instrument Keywords

Thesaurus Keyword
Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Instrument Keywords
LIDAR > Light Detection and Ranging

Platform Keywords

Thesaurus Keyword
Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Platform Keywords
Airplane > Airplane

Physical Location

Organization: Office for Coastal Management
City: Charleston
State/Province: SC

Data Set Information

Data Set Scope Code: Data Set
Data Set Type: Elevation
Data Presentation Form: Model (digital)
Distribution Liability:

Any conclusions drawn from the analysis of this information are not the responsibility of NOAA, the Office for Coastal Management or its partners.
Data Set Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office for Coastal Management

Support Roles

Data Steward

CC ID: 1471927
Date Effective From: 2026
Date Effective To:
Contact (Organization): NOAA Office for Coastal Management (NOAA/OCM)
Address: 2234 South Hobson Ave
Charleston, SC 29405-2413
Email Address: coastal.info@noaa.gov
Phone: (843) 740-1202
URL: https://coast.noaa.gov

Distributor

CC ID: 1471926
Date Effective From: 2026
Date Effective To:
Contact (Organization): NOAA Office for Coastal Management (NOAA/OCM)
Address: 2234 South Hobson Ave
Charleston, SC 29405-2413
Email Address: coastal.info@noaa.gov
Phone: (843) 740-1202
URL: https://coast.noaa.gov

Metadata Contact

CC ID: 1471928
Date Effective From: 2026
Date Effective To:
Contact (Organization): NOAA Office for Coastal Management (NOAA/OCM)
Address: 2234 South Hobson Ave
Charleston, SC 29405-2413
Email Address: coastal.info@noaa.gov
Phone: (843) 740-1202
URL: https://coast.noaa.gov

Point of Contact

CC ID: 1471929
Date Effective From: 2026
Date Effective To:
Contact (Organization): NOAA Office for Coastal Management (NOAA/OCM)
Address: 2234 South Hobson Ave
Charleston, SC 29405-2413
Email Address: coastal.info@noaa.gov
Phone: (843) 740-1202
URL: https://coast.noaa.gov

Extents

Currentness Reference: Ground Condition

Extent Group 1

Extent Group 1 / Geographic Area 1

CC ID: 1471943
W° Bound: -84.999516
E° Bound: -84.500963
N° Bound: 46.631652
S° Bound: 46.431611

Extent Group 1 / Time Frame 1

CC ID: 1471942
Time Frame Type: Range
Start: 2023-08-08
End: 2023-10-26

Spatial Information

Spatial Resolution

Horizontal Distance: 2.0 Meter

Spatial Representation

Representations Used

Grid: Yes
Vector: No
Text / Table: No
TIN: No
Stereo Model: No
Video: No

Reference Systems

Reference System 1

CC ID: 1471946

Coordinate Reference System
CRS Type: Vertical
EPSG Code: EPSG:5703
EPSG Name: NAVD88 height
▾ See Full Coordinate Reference System Information

Reference System 2

CC ID: 1471945

Coordinate Reference System
CRS Type: Projected
EPSG Code: EPSG:26916
EPSG Name: NAD83 / UTM zone 16N
▾ See Full Coordinate Reference System Information

Access Information

Data License: Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Data License URL: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
Data License Statement:

To the extent possible under law, the U.S. Government has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this dataset.
Security Class: Unclassified
Data Access Procedure:

Data is available online for bulk and custom downloads.
Data Access Constraints:

None
Data Use Constraints:

Users should be aware that temporal changes may have occurred since this data set was collected and some parts of this data may no longer represent actual surface conditions. Users should not use this data for critical applications without a full awareness of its limitations.

Distribution Information

Distribution 1

CC ID: 1471930
Download URL: https://coast.noaa.gov/dataviewer/#/lidar/search/where:ID=10250/details/10250
Distributor: NOAA Office for Coastal Management (NOAA/OCM) (2026 - Present)
File Name: Customized Download
Description:

Create custom data files by choosing data area, map projection, file format, etc. A new metadata will be produced to reflect your request using this record as a base.
Distribution Format: Not Applicable
Compression: Zip

Distribution 2

CC ID: 1471931
Download URL: https://noaa-nos-coastal-lidar-pds.s3.amazonaws.com/dem/NOAA_LakeSup_Whitefish_DEM_2023_10250/index.html
Distributor: NOAA Office for Coastal Management (NOAA/OCM) (2026 - Present)
File Name: Bulk Download
Description:

Bulk download of data files in GeoTIFF format, UTM Zone 16N NAD83 meters coordinates and elevations in NAVD88(GEOID18) meters.

Distribution Format: GeoTIFF

URLs

URL 1

CC ID: 1471932
URL: https://coast.noaa.gov/dataviewer/
Name: NOAA's Office for Coastal Management (OCM) Data Access Viewer (DAV)
URL Type:
Online Resource
File Resource Format: HTML
Description:

The Data Access Viewer (DAV) allows a user to search for and download elevation, imagery, and land cover data for the coastal U.S. and its territories. The data, hosted by the NOAA Office for Coastal Management, can be customized and requested for free download through a checkout interface. An email provides a link to the customized data, while the original data set is available through a link within the viewer.

URL 2

CC ID: 1472143
URL: https://noaa-nos-coastal-lidar-pds.s3.amazonaws.com/laz/geoid18/10249/supplemental/Lake_Superior_Project_Report.pdf
Name: Lidar Report
URL Type:
Online Resource
File Resource Format: pdf
Description:

Link to the Tetra Tech lidar report.

Data Quality

Vertical Positional Accuracy:

Calibration was performed using Bayesmap Stripalign. For every individual lidar swath, all 9 channels of the SuperNova were calibrated in unison. The only differentiation being forward vs backward laser look angles with respect to flight direction. Any swath edge or tail mismatches were rectified using two iterative rounds of swath alignment.

Calibrated swaths were shifted vertically to the four ground control points (GCPs) for improved absolute accuracy. A control report for final calibrated LAS was run in TerraScan after the points were shifted. The average Dz compared to the GCPs revealed a mean value of 0.034 m with a Standard Deviation and the NVA RMSE of 0.051 m and 0.044 m respectively.
Completeness Report:

A visual review was performed to ensure complete coverage.
Conceptual Consistency:

Data covers the entire AOI of the specific project.

Data Management

Have Resources for Management of these Data Been Identified?: Yes
Approximate Percentage of Budget for these Data Devoted to Data Management: Unknown
Do these Data Comply with the Data Access Directive?: Yes
Actual or Planned Long-Term Data Archive Location: NCEI-NC
How Will the Data Be Protected from Accidental or Malicious Modification or Deletion Prior to Receipt by the Archive?:

Data is backed up to cloud storage.

Lineage

Lineage Statement:

This dataset was collected for the NOAA Office for Coastal Management (OCM) by Tetra Tech and was processed to the NOAA Digital Coast Data Access Viewer to make the data available for custom and bulk downloads.

Sources

GeoTIFF Files

CC ID: 1471938
Contact Role Type: Originator
Contact Type: Organization
Contact Name: NOAA Office for Coastal Management

Process Steps

Process Step 1

CC ID: 1471939
Description:

The initial point cloud was generated from raw waveforms using CARIS BASE Editor. This software uses machine learning to identify water surface and bathymetric bottom from the waveforms, then classifies the point cloud as such. Data are processed on a per mission basis then exported to raw, uncalibrated swaths in LAS 1.4 format. Before moving on to subsequent processing steps, coverage and density were reviewed according to project specifications. Reasonable effort was made to identify candidate areas for reflights in an attempt to obtain better bathymetric bottom coverage. The calibrated point cloud was processed through a series of automated classification routines to obtain consistent water surface and ground classes. Additionally, excessive noise was moved to the appropriate classes in order to create a cleaner point cloud product. Tetra Tech completed automated and manual editing of the lidar dataset, performed a QA/QC review, and created final products for delivery.
Process Date/Time: 2023-10-20 00:00:00

Process Step 2

CC ID: 1471940
Description:

Void polygons were created through the polygonization of voids in an initial DEM that was generated to prevent triangulation beyond an estimated threshold to meet the 9 square meters project specification. These polygons were filtered by area such that any below 9 square meters were deleted. A final voided DEM was then created by clipping out void areas with these polygons from an interpolated DEM to ensure all voids met the 9 square meter threshold. Tetra Tech performed a QA/QC review of the finalized DEM.
Process Date/Time: 2023-10-20 00:00:00

Process Step 3

CC ID: 1471947
Description:

The NOAA Office for Coastal Management (OCM) received 23 GeoTIFF files from Tetra Tech. The files were in UTM Zone 16N NAD83 meters coordinates and the elevations were in NAVD88 (GEOID18) meters. The bare earth raster files were at a 2 meter grid spacing. OCM assigned the vertical EPSG code (5703), the horizontal EPSG code (26916) and copied the raster files to AWS S3 for Digital Coast storage and provisioning purposes.
Process Date/Time: 2026-03-12 00:00:00
Process Contact: NOAA Office for Coastal Management (NOAA/OCM)
Email Address: coastal.info@noaa.gov
Phone (Voice): (843) 740-1202

Related Items

Item Type Relationship Type Title
Data Set (DS) Cross Reference 2023 NOAA Topobathy Lidar: Whitefish Point Lake Superior, MI

Catalog Details

Catalog Item ID: 79407
GUID: gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:79407
Metadata Record Created By: Rebecca Mataosky
Metadata Record Created: 2026-03-12 14:59+0000
Metadata Record Last Modified By: Rebecca Mataosky
Metadata Record Last Modified: 2026-03-30 15:52+0000
Metadata Record Published: 2026-03-16
Owner Org: OCM
Metadata Publication Status: Published Externally
Do Not Publish?: N
Metadata Last Review Date: 2026-03-12
Metadata Review Frequency: 1 Year
Metadata Next Review Date: 2027-03-12