NOAA S-102 Bathymetric Surface Data on AWS

Overview 🔗︎

The NOAA S-102 suite represents NOAA’s high resolution bathymetry including the most recent hydrographic surveys available to NOAA's Office of Coast Survey. Data included in these overlays may be sourced from NOAA, USACE, survey departments of the local Port Authorities and other sources. These overlays are intended to overlay and complement official NOAA S-101 Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs). Additional information on NOAA navigation products and services may be found at: http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov

The S-102 Bathymetric Surface Product Specification is a data encoding standard which is part of the International Hydrographic Organization's (IHO) S-100 Universal Hydrographic Data Model. Individual S-102 files are encoded in the S-102 Standard.

This service is made possible through a public-private partnership enabled by the NOAA Open Data Dissemination Program.

Accessing the Data on Amazon Web Services (AWS) 🔗︎

The Amazon Resource Name (ARN) for the S3 Bucket is: arn:aws:s3:::noaa-s102-pds

The Amazon S3 Bucket URI is: s3://noaa-s102-pds

AWS S3 provides direct HTTP access to the files, so datasets can be downloaded using any HTTP client such as a web browser. To make discovering and accessing the data easier, a simple bucket explorer web application is also provided which allows you to navigate through the object key structure and download files using a web browser.

Access to the datasets is being provided on Amazon Web Services (AWS) via Simple Storage Service (S3). Files can be downloaded via the native AWS S3 API using tools such as the AWS CLI or AWS SDK libraries such as the Python boto3 package.

Common AWS CLI Access Examples (No AWS account required):

  • To list all files in the noaa-s102-pds bucket: 
    	aws s3 ls --no-sign-request s3://noaa-s102-pds/
  • To copy all files in the noaa-s102-pds bucket to your local machine: 
    	aws s3 sync --no-sign-request s3://noaa-s102-pds/ /path/to/local/directory/

Additionally, an AWS Simple Notification Service (SNS) Topic has also been created to provide automated notifications when new files are added to the S3 Bucket. Users who operate their own infrastructure on AWS can integrate directly with this SNS Topic to trigger automated workflows using AWS Lambda or other services.

The Amazon Resource Name (ARN) for the SNS Topic is: arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:123901341784:NewS102Object

Format 🔗︎

S-102 is a data encoding standard which is part of the International Hydrographic Organization's (IHO) S-100 Universal Hydrographic Data Model. Individual S-102 files are encoded in S-102 Standard. Because S-102 is built upon HDF5, files can be read and written using existing software such as the official HDF5 libraries/utilities and h5py.

This collection of S-102 files is encoded in DCF-2 - Regularly-gridded arrays ("regular grids"). These files are arranged in a tiling, naming, and resolution scheme corresponding to the Electronic Navigational Chart (ENC).

Data Sources 🔗︎

The National Bathymetric Source (NBS) project creates and maintains high-resolution bathymetry composed of the best available data. This project enables the creation of next-generation nautical charts while also providing support for modeling, industry, science, regulation, and public curiosity. Primary sources of bathymetry include NOAA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hydrographic surveys and topographic bathymetric (topo-bathy) lidar (light detection and ranging) data. Data submitted through the NOAA Office of Coast Survey’s external source data process are also included, with gaps in deep water filled through Global Multi-Resolution Topography, a merged model of bathymetry.

Data Organization 🔗︎

S-102 Edition 3.0.0🔗︎

S-102 datasets are organized in the S3 bucket using an object-key structure similar to a directory hierarchy. This key structure includes the version (edition) of the S-102 standard with which the files are compliant and the geographic region.

S-102 Object Key Structure:

  • ed3.0.0/California/Los_Angeles_Long_Beach/102US006LGBDC252257.h5
    • ed3.0.0 - Files compliant with Edition 3.0.0 of the S-102 Standard
    • California - Region
    • Los_Angeles_Long_Beach - Files were produced for the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach
    • 102US006LGBDC252257.h5 - S-102 filename

S-102 Filename Convention:

  • 102US006LGBDC252257.h5
    • 102 - S-100 Product Identifier
    • US00 - Official IHO Producer Code for the United States Office of Coast Survey, National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
    • 6LGBDC - MCD Tile Name
    • 25 - Two numerical digits for the year reflecting NBS tile archive
    • 225 - Version of the tile published within the NBS archive
    • 7 - Encoding of the S-102 Edition where 2 = version 0, 4 = version 2.0, 5 = version 2.1, 6 = version 2.2, 7 = version 3.0, etc.

S-100 Discovery Metadata Catalog

Note: The Discovery Metadata Catalog contains metadata for all S-102 Edition 3.0.0 datasets available

  • ed3.0.0/_CATALOG/
    • CATALOG.XML - Catalog in accordance with S-100 Edition 5.2.0

Contact Information 🔗︎

If you have any questions or would like to provide feedback about these datasets, please submit your inquiry using the NOAA Office of Coast Survey (OCS) Assist Tool

Disclaimer🔗︎

Hydrographic survey data is subject to rapid change due to several factors including but not limited to dredging activity and natural shoaling and scouring processes. These products may include bathymetric data from a variety of sources, not all of which have been verified to meet NOAA standards. The overlay file must be used in conjunction with the official ENC produced by NOAA's Office of Coast Survey and is not intended to replace the data contained within the underlying ENC.