NCEAS Scientific Computing: Solutions Center Use Case
Project Requirement
An NCEAS Postdoctoral Fellow needed to compute for 46 worldwide study sites the percentage of each site falling within a series of 100 meter 'wide' elevation zones. The global distribution and large size of the study sites mandated a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) source with world wide coverate at a consistant spatial resolution and accuracy. The zone analysis was best performed by a Geographic Information System (GIS)
Solution Summary
NCEAS Scientific Computing identified two DEM data sources to cover the 46 sites: the USGS 1:250,000 scale DEMs for North American sites, and the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), also distributed by the USGS, for sites located in the rest of the world. ESRI's ArcMap GIS Ver 9 software was used to construct the DEMs for each site and conduct the elevation zone analysis
Digital Elevation Model for site:
Elevation Zone map for site:
Links to Further Details
Project Report/Tutorial: Calculating Elevation Zone Thresholds Read this report for complete project description and technique demonstration/tutorial.
