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opentopography.org
OpenTopography
@opentopography.org
570 followers 140 following 81 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
Check out the latest datasets now available on OpenTopography, which include over a dozen new USGS 3DEP datasets, new NOAA Coastal Lidar, and data collected over the Eaton Fire in Los Angeles, California.

opentopography.org/news/decembe...
Lidar point cloud colored by intensity of the neighborhood destroyed by the Eaton Fire. What are all those light-colored patches on the ground? Gravestones in a cemetery! This is a plot of intensity gradient which is the rate of change in intensity between neighboring points. The intensity of a lidar return over stone is quite different than surrounding grass or soil, so the headstones plot clearly in an intensity gradient style plot. Colorized point cloud of a Structure from Motion survey of the Crater Elegante in Mexico. Hillshade of citrus farms in Florida.
January 12, 2026 at 5:43 PM
opentopography.org
Please join OpenTopo's Chelsea Scott & Cassandra Brigham for a WHPC@SDSC Professional Speaker Series talk.

Topographic change with OpenTopography: Adventures in cloud computing, spatial uncertainty, and impactful applications

Feb. 25, 2026 at 1–2 pm PT

Register: www.sdsc.edu/events/20260...
Event flyer for the San Diego Supercomputer Center Women in High Performance Computing Professional Speaker Series featuring Dr. Chelsea Scott and Dr. Cassandra Brigham, titled “Topographic change with OpenTopography,” with date Wednesday, February 25, 2026, 1:00–2:00 pm PST, over a shaded relief topography background.
January 7, 2026 at 8:06 PM
Reposted by OpenTopography
earthscope.org
The NSF National Geophysical Facility will be expanding support for near-surface geophysics. Your input can help shape future efforts for research and teaching with near-surface geophysics!

Please take a few minutes to complete this survey ➡️ https://loom.ly/tVEZXlE
Illustration of a person pushing a ground-penetrating radar cart across grass, with subsurface waves shown belowground. Text reads “Near-Surface Geophysics Support” and “Community input needed!” with NSF and National Geophysical Facility (operated by EarthScope) logos at the bottom.
January 7, 2026 at 7:20 PM
opentopography.org
At #AGU25? Be sure to check out these presentations by OpenTopography team members!

OT at AGU: opentopography.org/news/opentop...
Cassandra Brigham et al.: EP41E-1848 A geostatistically grounded workflow for spatial uncertainty quantification in lidar topographic differencing Thursday, 18 December 2025, 8:30 - 12:20, Hall EFG (Poster Hall) Chelsea Scott et al.: B43J-2061 Monitoring forest structure change using multi-temporal airborne lidar workflows in OpenForest4D Thursday, 18 December 2025, 14:15 - 17:45, Hall EFG (Poster Hall)
December 16, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Reposted by OpenTopography
openforest4d.org
Join us at our #AGU25 poster to discover how we harnesses airborne & satellite #lidar data using advanced workflows to uncover powerful insights on forest structure, biomass, and how landscapes change over time. agu.confex.com/agu/agu25/me...
#OpenScience #WildfireRecovery #EcosystemChange #RStats
Monitoring forest structure change using multi-temporal ALS workflows in OpenForest4D
December 10, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Reposted by OpenTopography
phaneritic.bsky.social
I want to give a shout out to the good folks at @opentopography.org for making it so EASY to search for and download publicly available digital elevation models and point cloud data sets. They are a spectacular resources that I use a lot in my classes! Data citations for boxes are at listings' end.
phaneritic.bsky.social Ryan J Hollister @phaneritic.bsky.social · Dec 10
Nearly half the boxes are sold after only an hour! Thanks everyone. Still some great ones left in the store
December 10, 2025 at 5:52 PM
opentopography.org
November's new data releases on OpenTopography include a new Community Dataspace dataset and USGS 3DEP coverage in California, plus NOAA Coastal Lidar over Ohio.

Read more and access data: opentopography.org/news/novembe...
Colorized point cloud of mobile lidar scans in the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias in California. Data Source: Lidar point cloud colored by intensity of the stadium at Bowling Green State University. Note the yard markings and end zone lettering can be seen due to the variation in the lidar return intensity between dark, light, and colored grass. Lidar point cloud colored by elevation of downtown Los Angeles, California.
December 10, 2025 at 5:02 PM
opentopography.org
Final year for NSF-supported NCALM seed project proposals! Great opportunity for students to get free #lidar for research. Focus this year is projects in the Alaskan Arctic.

Data become open via OT. To date there are 252 NCALM datasets available on OT (red ⬇️)

Info: ncalm.cive.uh.edu/seed-proposals
Map of CONUS showing areas of NCALM lidar data collection available via OpenTopography in red.
December 10, 2025 at 4:46 PM
opentopography.org
Connect with OpenTopography at #AGU25 in New Orleans next week! Our booth (908) is staffed by the OT team and is a great chance to ask questions, provide feedback, or to discuss lidar, high resolution topography, and cyberinfrastructure.

opentopography.org/news/opentop...
AGU25 graphic, 'Connect with OpenTopography at AGU in New Orleans! December 15-19, 2025. Booth #908' with an outline of a meandering river.
December 9, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Reposted by OpenTopography
openforest4d.org
Discover how #lidar reveals wildfire impacts & landscape recovery. Case studies in Arizona & Los Angeles show how 3D data helps us quantify canopy loss, hazards, & restoration after major fires. #LAfires #Kaibab
Watch the new #wildfire science video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Joz...
Measuring Wildfire Impact: Lidar Analysis of Arizona and California Fires
YouTube video by OpenForest4D
www.youtube.com
December 4, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Reposted by OpenTopography
openforest4d.org
Generate #forestry products from #lidar topography data with lidR! Reproducible R notebook guides users through #pointcloud filtering, raster generation & forest metrics extraction to produce key outputs like canopy height models. Explore notebook: github.com/OpenForest4D...
#googlecolab #geospatial
Canopy Height Model + representing tree tops on smoothed CHM Crown Max Height
December 1, 2025 at 7:22 PM
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.org
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.org
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 [email protected]
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