coastal topography

[azimuth]

I am searching for US coastal topography from the mean high tide to approx. 500 yds. offshore. I have tried NOAA, Scripps & Army Corps of Engineers. My interest is to define the bottom at quality surf spots in the US and Hawaii.

 

[DaveVikingPE]

Have you called and actually spoken with someone at the Honolulu District US Army Corps of Engineers? Their web site is

http://www.poh.usace.army.mil/civilworks.asp.

There is an excellent chance that the state's best coastal engineers work for Honolulu District. There's an even better chance that they are surfers!

 

[azimuth]

Thanks for the input. I've spoken with the west coast representatives with little success but will follow up on your suggestion re: the Hawaiian connection.

 

[raichle]

nearshore bathymetric data is available for much of the u.s. through NOAA. You can use the mapfinder site (

http://www.mapfinder.nos.noaa.gov)

or buy a CD of all the available data from the National Geophysical Data Center (recommended). I've used this data to model wave transformation at several surf sites, including Mavericks, CA; Manasquan, NJ; and Mayport, FL (see

http://www.risurfrider.org/PDF/mav.pdf)