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opentopography.org
OpenTopography
@opentopography.org
550 followers 140 following 72 posts
Open access to high-resolution, Earth science-oriented topography data, and related tools & resources. US National Science Foundation supported. #lidar https://www.opentopography.org
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opentopography.org
OpenTopography @opentopography.org · Mar 13
New short (3 minute) video answers the question "What is OpenTopography?":
OpenTopography: Unveiling the Earth's Surface
YouTube video by OpenTopography
youtu.be
opentopography.org
For the last several decades, scientists have been developing a way to make our maps more reliable with point cloud data collected by lidar. Lidar is an accurate method that helps scientists to map cities, landscapes, and places that were previously difficult or dangerous to access.
November 10, 2025 at 5:26 PM
opentopography.org
New for educators! Lab Exercise: Using lidar to track Lake Michigan bluff retreat and inform local communities

Designed for community college and intro-level geomorph, enviro sci, and GIS courses, students use lidar data to learn about dynamic coastal erosion.

opentopography.org/learn/WI_blu...
Side-by-side view of an aerial photo of the Wisconsin coastline along Lake Michigan showing a bluff and change along the Michigan coastline showing topographic hillshades (left) and vertical change (right) from 2010- 2020.
November 3, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Reposted by OpenTopography
openforest4d.bsky.social
Discover how #lidar reveals the size & location of individual Ponderosa Pines at Sunset Crater, AZ! Using advanced algorithms in lidR, we map tree height and crowns in stunning detail, informing forest ecology and management.
openforest4d.org/tree-identif...

#Forestry
#RemoteSensing
#RStats
October 30, 2025 at 3:41 PM
opentopography.org
The new NSF-funded Center for Land Surface Hazards (CLaSH) at U. Michigan is seeking an Assistant Director to help lead an ambitious, interdisciplinary effort to transform the science of and advance community resilience for hazards like landslides and flooding:

careers.umich.edu/job_detail/2...
Center Assistant Director | U-M Careers
careers.umich.edu
October 27, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Reposted by OpenTopography
openforest4d.bsky.social
Ever wondered what #lidar point clouds reveal about forests? OpenForest4D’s new guide breaks down how elevation, return number, intensity, and classification describe forest structure.
openforest4d.org/lidar-point-...
#pointcloud #laserscanning #forestry #geospatial
A lidar point cloud along central California’s Big Sur coast displaying elevation, classification, return number, and intensity. The airborne lidar point cloud was collected in 2022 has a point density of 85 points/m2.
October 27, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Reposted by OpenTopography
moreorloess.bsky.social
Fan in the Fall River valley produced by the 1982 Lawn Lake Flood, caused by failure of an old dam in Rocky Mtn. NP. I was scanning photos of the bouldery fan taken by Jim Knox, and decided to try a 3D view with lidar data and #rayshader. 0.5 m DEM from USGS point cloud via @opentopography.org
Perspective view of a large fan, coming out of a narrow bedrock canyon, with channels extending across a large valley to a river in the foreground. The fan surface is rough because of large boulders on it. A road crosses the fan.
October 19, 2025 at 2:00 AM
opentopography.org
OT will be at GSA Connects 2025 in San Antonio, TX, Oct 19–22. Visit us at booth 809 to talk lidar, topography, and grab an "I ❤️ LIDAR" sticker. OT is honored to receive the 2025 GSA President’s Medal. Join us for the President’s Medal Lecture on Mon Oct. 20.

opentopography.org/news/opentop...
Graphic with a colorful rainbow river relative elevation model at the bottom and text on top reading "OpenTopography. GSA Connects 2025 | Oct. 19-22"
October 15, 2025 at 3:32 PM
opentopography.org
OpenTopography services may be intermittently unavailable from 11 AM to 12 PM PDT on Tuesday, October 14, 2025 during system updates. Thank you for your patience.
October 10, 2025 at 5:19 PM
opentopography.org
New September 2025 data releases on OpenTopography include Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) lidar over the North Island of New Zealand, SfM topography over the 2019 Ridgecrest rupture, NOAA coastal lidar additions, and additional USGS 3DEP data.

opentopography.org/news/septemb...
3D point cloud of intensity of a glacier near Kachemak Bay, Alaska. Data Source: NOAA: 2024 NOAA Lidar: AK Coastal Communities (Kachemak Bay). Colorized hillshade of Quinhagak, Alaska. Data Source: NOAA: 2024 NOAA Lidar: AK Coastal Communities (Eek, Goodnews Bay, Nelson Lagoon, Quinhagak, Togiak). Colored hillshade covering a portion of the 2019 M7.1 Ridgecrest earthquake surface rupture in California (red is higher elevation, grey is lower elevation). Data Source: CDS: High-Res SfM Topography of a Portion of the 2019 M7.1 Ridgecrest Rupture. Colorized hillshade of the USGS 1m DTM data over Dayton, Ohio. Note this dataset is a hydro-flattened digital terrain model, so it has buildings, bridges, and overpasses removed. Data Source: USGS: USGS 1 meter Digital Elevation Model.
October 2, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Reposted by OpenTopography
forestsat.bsky.social
🌲 Join us at ForestSAT 2026! 🌍
📅 May 4–8, 2026 | Hybrid – Attend in-person or online
📧 Questions? Reach out at ForestSAT2026@ifas.ufl.edu
Discover the benefits of attending: carlos-alberto-silva.github.io/silvalab/For...
September 29, 2025 at 7:30 PM
opentopography.org
Coastlines in Crisis

Coastal areas like the Outer Banks of North Carolina are shrinking. What can we learn and see from lidar data?
October 1, 2025 at 5:19 PM
opentopography.org
Check out TopoRivBlender, a new tool to create custom 3D images of topography and hydrography. Uses Blender and the OpenTopography API to produce 3D visualizations for data around the world.

More info:
waterdata.usgs.gov/blog/topo-ri...
github.com/DOI-USGS/top...
3D visualization of Kings Peak in Northeast Utah, USA A rendered 3D image of topography and hydrography in Upper Juniata in Central Pennsylvania (HUC: 02050302) using a perspective viewpoint. 3D visualization of the Columbia River in Oregon and Washington, USA. 3D visualization of the Colorado River in Southern Utah, USA
September 29, 2025 at 5:54 PM
opentopography.org
Learn more about the 1m resolution Canadian HRDEM and access via OpenTopography here: opentopography.org/news/opentop...
September 26, 2025 at 2:46 PM
opentopography.org
Missed last week's AGU EPSP Connects Virtual Science Talk by OpenTopography's Chelsea Scott and Cassandra Brigham? Check out the recording!
⬇️
www.youtube.com/live/WJHPdyv...

Topographic change with OpenTopography: Adventures in cloud computing, spatial uncertainty, and impactful applications
AGU EPSP Connects - September 2025
Topographic change with OpenTopography: Adventures in cloud computing, spatial uncertainty, and impactful applications
www.youtube.com
September 23, 2025 at 6:43 PM
opentopography.org
Congratulations to EarthScope!

In addition to operating the NSF's National Geophysical Facility (NGF), the EarthScope Consortium is one of three institutions who run OpenTopography (along with the San Diego Supercomputer Center at University of California, San Diego and Arizona State University).
earthscope.org EarthScope Consortium @earthscope.org · Sep 17
In June 2024, EarthScope Consortium submitted a proposal to the National Science Foundation to operate the National Geophysical Facility (NGF). We are thrilled to announce that EarthScope has been selected as the operator of NSF NGF.

➡️ https://loom.ly/gfaXxQ8
Graphic announcing EarthScope Consortium as operator of the NSF National Geophysical Facility
September 17, 2025 at 8:28 PM
opentopography.org
Join OpenTopography's Chelsea Scott and Cassandra Brigham for an AGU EPSP Connects Virtual Science Talk on cloud computing, spatial uncertainty, and impactful applications of topographic change on September 17, 2025 at 11 am ET (8 am PT).

Register to attend: tinyurl.com/sep17epsptalk
Graphic advertising talk "Topographic change with OpenTopography: Adventures in cloud computing, spatial uncertainty, and impactful applications" by Prof. Chelsea Scott and Dr. Cassandra Brigham
September 15, 2025 at 6:00 PM
opentopography.org
The stunning sandstone peaks of the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in China inspired the floating mountains in the movie Avatar, but how did the real-life versions form?
September 11, 2025 at 6:27 PM
opentopography.org
OpenTopography datasets have been chosen for the NSF's National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot Program, aiming to provide access to high-quality datasets that support the advancement of AI literacy, education, and innovation.

Read more ⬇️
opentopography.org/news/nsf-nairr
Credit: U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). Graphic showcasing researchers in hardhats, with binary code and other computing elements in the background.
September 10, 2025 at 4:04 PM
opentopography.org
August's new data releases on OpenTopography include additional USGS 3DEP 1m raster updates (available to academics and OT+ subscribers), and UAV data from landslide reconnaissance monitoring in Utah.

Access the data: opentopography.org/news/august-...
Hillshade of the ZigZag Landslide near Snow Basin Road (UT-226), Morgan County, Utah. Colored hillshade of Mt Jefferson, Oregon. Data Hillshade of a section of the Carizzo Plain in California with the San Andreas fault zones plotted in red.
September 9, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Reposted by OpenTopography
clashgeohazards.bsky.social
🎉 It’s official! Today, we announce the launch of CLaSH: Center for Land Surface Hazards an NSF supported initiative to advance the science of cascading geohazards to enable a resilient society.

Follow along as we share updates, opportunities, research, and collaborations! 🌎✨ #CLaSH #NSF
September 4, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Reposted by OpenTopography
beautifulpublicdata.com
New post: Comparing LiDAR data from before and after the January 2025 fires in Los Angeles reveals the scale of devastation in ways satellite imagery can’t match.
www.beautifulpublicdata.com/how-lidar-me...
How LiDAR measures the toll of climate disasters
Comparing LiDAR data from before and after the January 2025 fires in Los Angeles reveals the scale of devastation in ways satellite imagery can’t match.
www.beautifulpublicdata.com
August 25, 2025 at 2:03 PM
opentopography.org
Topographic differencing of lidar turns wildfire impacts into measurable change. OpenTopography’s Cassandra Brigham is quoted on rapid differencing after the 2025 LA fires.
⬇️
www.beautifulpublicdata.com/how-lidar-me...
How LiDAR measures the toll of climate disasters
Comparing LiDAR data from before and after the January 2025 fires in Los Angeles reveals the scale of devastation in ways satellite imagery can’t match.
www.beautifulpublicdata.com
August 26, 2025 at 5:11 PM
opentopography.org
The Martian Mega-Volcano

The tallest volcano on Earth, Hawaii's Mauna Kea, pales in comparison to Olympus Mons on Mars, the largest volcano in the solar system. See what we can learn by studying the topography of planetary bodies.
August 18, 2025 at 6:57 PM
opentopography.org
A number of new topographic datasets are now available on OpenTopography. July dataset additions include the High Resolution Digital Elevation Model of Canada, NOAA coastal lidar of the Indiana coastline, and new LINZ lidar over New Zealand.

opentopography.org/news/july-20...
Digital Terrain Model centered on Mount Royal Park in Montreal, Quebec. Imagery draped on hillshade of topography of Fox Glacier in the Southern alps. 3D point cloud colored by elevation of the Ogden Sand Dunes on the southern shore of Lake Michigan. Digital Terrain Model (DTM) of a volcanic cone in Rangitoto Island Scenic Reserve, New Zealand.
August 13, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Reposted by OpenTopography
moreorloess.bsky.social
Box Elder Canyon and Bignell Table, in the loess canyons of western Nebraska, with shadows moving across the landscape as they would on August 9. Uses sun position calculated by {suntools} R package. Visualized with #rayshader. DEM via @opentopography.org
August 11, 2025 at 11:07 PM