Here at NOAA, we have exciting news to share!
Over the next year, new high-resolution coastal land cover
data will be available for the entire coastal zone.
This valuable update will provide users with higher-quality
land cover imagery
by transitioning
from a 30-meter resolution to a 1-meter resolution.
The higher resolution will make this product
more applicable for use at the community level.
Coastal land cover or CCAP
is an important data product
that NOAA has provided for decades.
Land cover data is obtained
by analyzing imagery collected
from satellites and airplanes
to determine how much of a region is covered by forests,
wetlands, agriculture and other land and water types.
People use these data to better understand impacts
from natural phenomena
and human use and to evaluate management decisions.
Due to the increased costs associated with high-resolution
CCAP data, this product is often unattainable
for local communities, but not anymore.
Using funding
from the Bipartisan Infrastructure
Law and the Great Lakes Restoration
Initiative,
NOAA and several other entities are working together
to obtain high-resolution data for the entire coastal zone.
With higher-resolution data, local officials and others
can now access and analyze details
that were previously unavailable.
This is a game changer.
Coastal communities can use this product to improve sea
level rise projections, support flood protection efforts,
inform wetland restoration projects and much more.
This enhanced data will have
a tremendous impact
on communities working to address climate change
and make wise planning
and other decisions about the future.
These data will be available free of charge
on the Digital Coast website by the end of 2023.
Learn more about this important product
by visiting the link in this post.