Technical Considerations for Use of Geospatial Data in Sea Level Change Mapping and Assessment
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NOAA NOS Technical Report Technical Considerations for Use of Geospatial Data in Sea Level Change Mapping and Assessment U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Ocean Service Silver Spring, Maryland September 2010 i This report prepared by: NOAA Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services Richard Edwing, Director www.tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov NOAA Coastal Services Center Margaret Davidson, Director www.csc.noaa.gov NOAA National Geodetic Survey Juliana Blackwell, Director www.ngs.noaa.gov NOAA Office of Coast Survey Captain John Lowell, Director www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov Acknowledgments: A special thank you to the writing team: Allison Allen (lead), Stephen Gill, Doug Marcy, Maria Honeycutt, Jerry Mills, Mary Erickson, Edward Myers, Stephen White, Doug Graham, Joe Evjen, Jeff Olson, Jack Riley, Carolyn Lindley, Chris Zervas, William Sweet, Lori Fenstermacher, Dru Smith. And to those who reviewed the document: W. Michael Gibson, Gretchen Imahori, Paul Scholz, Mary Culver, Jeff Payne. Technical editing by Helen Worthington, NOAA Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services. ii Table of Contents List of Figures ............................................................................................................... v Executive Summary ..................................................................................................... ix Chapter 1.0 Introduction ........................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2.0 General Information .............................................................................. 3 2.1 What is Sea Level Change? ....................................................................................................................... 3 2.1.1 Global and Relative Sea Level Change ......................................................................................... 3 2.1.2 Geologic History of Sea Level ...................................................................................................... 4 2.1.3 Present Day Global Sea Level ....................................................................................................... 5 2.1.4 The Latest 16-Year Trends in Global Mean Sea Level from Satellite Altimetry .......................... 6 2.1.5 Projected Acceleration in Global Mean Sea Level ........................................................................ 7 2.1.6 Present-Day Trends in Relative Mean Sea Level .......................................................................... 8 2.1.7 Annual and Decadal Sea Level Variations .................................................................................. 10 2.2 Considerations for Sea Level Applications ............................................................................................. 12 2.2.1 Datums ........................................................................................................................................ 12 2.2.2 Datum Transformations ............................................................................................................... 17 2.3 Accuracy Needed For Various Sea Level Applications ........................................................................... 19 2.4 Use of Sea Level Rise Information .......................................................................................................... 22 2.5 Projection of Future Sea Level Trends .................................................................................................... 23 2.5.1 Background Discussion ............................................................................................................... 23 2.5.2 Integration of Projections and Scenarios ..................................................................................... 25 2.6 Relevance of Geospatial Data to Sea Level Applications ........................................................................ 27 Chapter 3.0 Existing Data and Access................................................................... 31 3.1 Important Types of Geospatial Data Used for Sea Level Change Mapping and Assessment Projects .... 31 3.1.1 Base Surface Elevation: Topographic Data and How Shorelines Are Related To Topographic Datasets ....................................................................................................................................... 32 3.1.2 Base Surface Elevation: Bathymetric Data .................................................................................. 36 3.1.3 Water Surface Elevation .............................................................................................................. 38 3.1.4 Reference Elevation: How it Factors Into Sea Level Change Projects ........................................ 45 3.2 Data Sources ............................................................................................................................................ 49 3.2.1 Base Surface Elevation Data: Where to Find Topographic Data, Including Shoreline Data ....... 49 3.2.2 Base Surface Elevation Data: Where to Find Bathymetric Data ................................................. 51 3.2.3 Water Surface Elevation: Where to Find Water-Level Data and Sea Level Trends .................... 52 3.2.4 Reference Elevation: Where to Find Data or Other Resources to Establish or Maintain a Reference Elevation..................................................................................................................... 52 Chapter 4.0 New Data Acquisition ......................................................................... 57 4.1 Type of Data Needed ............................................................................................................................... 57 4.2 How to Acquire the Data to Enable Multiple Uses .................................................................................. 57 4.3 How to Acquire Specific Data Sets ......................................................................................................... 59 4.3.1 Long-Term Sea Level and Sea Level Trends .............................................................................. 59 4.3.2 Topographic Data ........................................................................................................................ 61 4.3.3 Bathymetric Data ......................................................................................................................... 63 4.3.4 Orthometric Heights .................................................................................................................... 64 iii Chapter 5.0 Data Integration and Interpolation ..................................................... 69 5.1 Error Quantification ................................................................................................................................. 69 5.1.1 Sea Level ..................................................................................................................................... 69 5.1.2 Elevation ...................................................................................................................................... 72 5.1.3 Topographic Mapping ................................................................................................................. 74 5.1.4 Bathymetry .................................................................................................................................. 76 5.1.5 Composite Error Budget Considerations ..................................................................................... 78 5.2 Integration of Multiple Data Sources to Better Address Sea Level Issues .............................................. 78 5.2.1 CORS and Tide Stations .............................................................................................................. 78 5.2.2 VDatum and How It Can Be Used .............................................................................................. 79 5.3 How to Build Integrated Data Products Such as a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) ............................... 88 5.3.1 Methodology ............................................................................................................................... 88 5.3.2 Considerations When Generating DEMs. .................................................................................... 89 5.3.3 Review of the DEM Surface ........................................................................................................ 90 Chapter 6.0 Applications ......................................................................................... 95 6.1 Common Applications for Sea Level Change Data ................................................................................. 95 6.2 Digital Elevation Model in Mapping and Assessing the Impacts of Sea Level Change .......................... 99 6.3 Amount of Sea Level Change to Use in Specific Projects ..................................................................... 102 6.4 What Vertical Reference Datum to Use ................................................................................................ 104 6.5 Measure and Quantify Shoreline Change .............................................................................................. 105 6.6 Applications of Ecosystem/Marsh Change Models ............................................................................... 106 6.7 Interaction of Sea Level Rise,