Description: <DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;"><DIV><P><SPAN>Hurricane Sandy was the deadliest and most destructive hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, and the second-costliest with an estimated $71.4 billion (2013 USD). Hurricane Sandy affected 24 states, including the entire eastern seaboard with particularly severe damage in New Jersey and New York. In response to the storm, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Program in collaboration with the USGS National Geospatial Program (NGP), and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) developed a three-dimensional (3D) 1-meter topobathymetric elevation model (TBDEM) for the Chesapeake Bay region including the District of Columbia, states of Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia and the adjacent coastline. High-resolution coastal elevation data is required to identify flood, hurricane, and sea-level rise inundation hazard zones and other earth science applications, such as the development of sediment transport and storm surge models. The new TBDEM consists of the best available multi-source topographic and bathymetric elevation data for the District of Columbia, states of Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia and coastal areas. The Chesapeake Bay TBDEM integrates over 261 different data sources including topographic and bathymetric LiDAR point clouds, hydrographic surveys, side-scan sonar surveys, and multi-beam surveys obtained from USGS, NOAA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and other state and local agencies. The LiDAR and bathymetry surveys were sorted and prioritized based on survey date, accuracy, spatial distribution, and point density to develop a model based on the best available elevation data. Because bathymetric data are typically referenced to tidal referenced datums (such as Mean High Water or Mean Low Water), all tidally-referenced heights were transformed into orthometric heights that are normally used for mapping elevation on land (based on the North American Vertical Datum of 1988). The spatial resolution is 1 meter and includes the Chesapeake Bay region, District of Columbia, States of Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. The temporal range of the input topography and bathymetry is 1859 to 2015.</SPAN></P></DIV></DIV>
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