Corrected digital elevation model in coastal wetlands in Nassau and Duval Counties, Florida, 2018

Publication Date

2023-10-02

Start Date

2018-11-28

End Date

2018-12-18

McHenry, C.E., Enwright, N.M., Vervaeke, W.C., Thurman, H.R., Patton, B.A., Stoker, J.M., Osland, M.J., Day, R.H., Anderson, G.H., Passeri, D.L., and Simons, B.M., 2023, Corrected digital elevation model in coastal wetlands in Nassau and Duval Counties, Florida, 2018: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P941Z77K.

Sea-level rise is expected to transform habitats across the entire coastal zone including upslope habitats such as forested wetlands, freshwater marshes, and upland forests and grasslands. Natural resource managers require information on how these important coastal ecosystems change over time to assist with future-focused land management and decision-making. Periodically produced DEMs provide high-resolution elevation data that can be used to monitor coastal zone changes. However, elevation bias is typically unknown in wetlands, and can be substantial. Therefore, it is important to correct DEMs in densely vegetated areas. The objective of this effort is to reduce the elevation error of the DEM in coastal wetlands in and around the National Park Service’s Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve in northeastern Florida using a random forest regression model. This project was funded by the USGS Natural Resources Preservation Program. This product will be used to approximate the probability of inundation in and around the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve under several contemporary high tide flooding and sea-level rise scenarios. Additionally, this product will be used to assess the potential transformation of coastal wetlands under various sea-level rise scenarios. In the future, the model used to create this product could be used to reduce the elevation error of the DEM in coastal wetlands in and around other coastal parks and preserves with similar wetland types.

• USGS Data Release Products
• USGS Wetland and Aquatic Research Center