Connect NCEI elevation and seafloor data directly into your workflows through geospatial web services. Use these services to visualize data, query values, discover survey coverage, and bring authoritative NOAA products into GIS applications.

NOAA GeoPlatform (ArcGIS Online) - Group for NCEI Content

Feature layers serve vector data (points, lines, polygons) along with data attributes with full support for querying and filtering. 

Map services provide dynamic, server-rendered map images for vector data and also allow querying and filtering. 

Image services stream raster data like imagery or elevation models, supporting on-the-fly rendering of continuous surfaces. 

Tiled layers are pre-rendered at fixed zoom levels for fast display but don't support dynamic queries.

Coastal Elevation & DEM Services
Seamless elevation models for coastal and marine environments.

• NCEI DEM Extents (feature layer): shows the location and coverage of land and seafloor digital elevation models (DEMs) available from NCEI.
• The CUDEM Mosaic services provide access to the Continuously Updated Digital Elevation Model (CUDEM) bathymetric/topographic digital elevation models stewarded at NCEI.
  • Elevation values (image service)
  • Color shaded relief visualization (image service)
  • Color shaded relief visualization (tiled layer)
• The CRM Mosaic services provide access to the Coastal Relief Models stewarded at NCEI.
  • Elevation values (image service)
  • Color shaded relief visualization (tiled layer)
• The DEM Global Mosaic services provide a global, seamless bathymetry/topography mosaic that includes NCEI's ETOPO 2022, CUDEM, Coastal Relief Models (CRM), and other DEMs.
  • Elevation values (image service)
  • Color shaded relief visualization (image service)

Multibeam Survey Coverage & Discovery
Find surveys, footprints, metadata, and download links.

• Multibeam Datasets (feature layer)
• Multibeam Footprints (feature layer)

Multibeam Bathymetry Mosaics
View gridded multibeam bathymetry as seamless seafloor surfaces. These image services can provide either elevation values (in meters), or color shaded relief visualizations.

• Raw Data (image service): all multibeam raw data are combined into a single mosaic.
• Processed Data (image service): all multibeam processed data are combined into a single mosaic.
• Raw and Processed Combined (image service): processed data are drawn on top of raw data.
• Color Shaded Relief Visualization (tiled layer): rapid visualization of the “Raw and Processed Combined” data.
• Group Layer for Shaded Relief Visualization: displays the tiled layer when zoomed out, and the “Raw and Processed Combined” service when zoomed in.
• Subsets (image service): Allows filtering and viewing individual surveys.

Crowdsourced Bathymetry
Explore community-contributed bathymetric coverage and density.

• CSB (map service): displays Crowdsourced Bathymetry (CSB) data coverage. Allows querying/filtering, but can be slow to draw if many features are displayed.
• CSB Vector Tiles (tiled layer): acts as a fast-drawing preview of CSB data coverage. No attribute information is available in this layer.
• CSB Density (web map displaying a feature layer): density of publicly-available CSB soundings.

Marine Geophysical Survey Tracks
Find trackline-based geophysical surveys and associated metadata.

Trackline Geophysical Data - Ship Tracks (feature layer): shows tracks for all marine geophysical surveys in the database, split into sub-layers by data type. Provides survey attributes, and allows querying/filtering.

We’re a diverse team of CIRES scientists embedded with NOAA NCEI, working to turn complex seafloor datasets into practical products, tools, and services. Our work spans mapping, geospatial science, and data stewardship—from bringing new data into the archive, to building modern viewers and access services, to developing coastal and bathymetric DEMs, mosaics, and cloud-ready pipelines.

Barry Eakins (PI), Carrie Wall Bell (Co-PI)

Bathymetry Data

• Jess Nation — Bathymetry Data Manager
• Kevin Lally — Bathymetry Data Manager
• Lee Shoemaker — Bathymetry / CSB Data Manager
• Lila Brodsky — Student Data Assistant
• Daniel Alemayehu  — Student Data Assistant

Trackline Data

• Jordan Schweizer — Trackline Data Manager
• Teodora Mitroi — Trackline Data Manager
• Rachel Peterson — Trackline Software Engineer
• Michael Richtsmeier — Trackline Student

Digital Elevation Models (DEMs)

• Chris Amante — DEM Lead
• Elliot Lim — DEM Developer
• Matt Love — DEM Developer
• Michael MacFerrin — DEM Developer

Software and Data Systems

• Charles Anderson — Data Manager & Cruise Pack Creator
• Max Smith — Bathymetry Software Engineer
• Clinton Campbell — Bathymetry Software Engineer
• Payton Cain — Software Engineer
• Chris Slater — Software Engineer
• Rudy Klucik — Software Engineer
• Peemin Chen — Software Engineer

GIS and Visualization

• Matthew Bochain — GIS Developer
• Jesse Varner — GIS Developer
• John Cartwright — GIS Developer

Former Team Members

• Atticus Baker — Student Data Assistant
• Georgie Zelenak — Bathymetry Data Manager
• Julia McVeigh — Student Data Assistant

NCEI Partners and Collaborators

• Kelly Stroker
• Brian Meyer
• Jennifer Jencks

Accomplishments

SSIC is focused on the foundational work that makes long-term innovation possible: strengthening ingest and stewardship pipelines, modernizing viewers and access services, and advancing mission-critical seafloor products. The aim is to keep NCEI’s seafloor archive authoritative and enduring while expanding its capacity to support growing data volumes, new data types, and evolving user needs.

This work strengthens the full chain from acquisition to archive, improves discovery and access across datasets, and supports the development of products such as bathymetric data services, coastal DEMs, seafloor mosaics, and trackline geophysics tools. Throughout, SSIC keeps provenance front and center by pairing modern tools with clear links back to NCEI’s authoritative records.

Across ingest, access, and product development, SSIC is guided by a simple goal: make authoritative seafloor data easier to steward, easier to discover, and easier to apply to research, decision-making, and the next generation of ocean science and innovation.

Bathymetry Data

SSIC has contributed to major advances in NCEI’s Multibeam Bathymetry and Crowdsourced Bathymetry (CSB) data management systems, including modernized ingest pipelines, improved metadata structures, and new pathways for cloud-based access. These improvements have more than doubled multibeam archival rates and supported the CSB Archive as it surpassed 2 billion depth points in 2026. SSIC also incorporates community feedback to improve bathymetric data discovery and access through the new Bathymetry S3 bucket and updated Bathymetric Data Viewers.
SSIC data managers and software developers engage with the global seafloor mapping community by onboarding data providers, assisting data users, and participating in workshops that promote data sharing, stewardship, and capacity building. This engagement has supported major accomplishments such as the CSB Coastal State Review Application, which expands global participation in the IHO Crowdsourced Bathymetry Initiative, and the NOAA Marine Operations Data Rescue Project, which archived more than 80 TB of at-risk marine sonar data from NOAA fleet vessels.
 

Coastal DEMs

SSIC has contributed to major advances in NCEI’s coastal elevation product development by supporting regional-scale Coastal Relief Models (CRMs), high-resolution Continuously Updated Digital Elevation Models (CUDEMs), DEM mosaic services, and validation workflows that improve the reliability and usability of integrated topographic and bathymetric elevation data. Recent accomplishments include completion of the U.S. Central Coast and Pacific Northwest Coast CRMs, along with high-resolution CUDEM tiles for the California, Oregon, and Washington coasts.
SSIC scientists have also developed repeatable, open-source workflows that strengthen how authoritative coastal DEMs are produced, validated, documented, and delivered to users. These efforts help make NCEI elevation products easier to apply to tsunami and storm-surge modeling, inundation mapping, coastal resilience planning, habitat and shoreline studies, and other coastal science and management needs.
 

Seafloor Reflectance & Mosaics

SSIC helped move seafloor imagery products toward modern public access by advancing seafloor reflectance mosaic workflows, supporting sidescan sonar product development, reviewing sidescan GeoTIFFs for service integration, and coordinating with GIS teams on viewer and image-service requirements. Accomplishments include archiving large acoustic-imagery collections, including 1.5 TB of BOEM subbottom and sidescan sonar data, and advancing backscatter mosaic image-service workflows that make seafloor imagery easier to discover, view, and apply to marine geology, habitat mapping, resource exploration, and offshore planning.

Trackline Geophysics

SSIC improved stewardship and access for trackline geophysics data, including singlebeam bathymetry, magnetics, gravity, subbottom profiling, and sidescan sonar. Accomplishments include raising subbottom backlog archival to 95% completion, increasing annual publication output from 192 to 344 surveys, and publishing 554 subbottom surveys to date, making historical and newly submitted marine geophysical surveys easier to discover and apply to scientific research, including plate tectonics and habitat mapping, as well as practical applications such as marine resource exploration and hazard assessment.