Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Skip to content

Digital Elevation Model (DEM) Derived Topographic Indices Across Sequoia Groves in Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park and Yosemite National Park

Metadata Updated: November 26, 2025

This dataset provides topographic indices derived from 1 m resolution DEMs for sequoia groves in both Sequoia-Kings Canyon and Yosemite National Parks. All mapped sequoia groves in Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park and two groves from Yosemite National Park, Merced and Mariposa, are included. For each grove, aspect, slope, the stream network, height above nearest drainage (HAND), depth to water (DTW), maximum elevation deviation (DEVmax), and heat load index (HLI) are calculated. These indices were chosen because of their relevance in determining soil moisture across a landscape. Derived topographic parameters were calculated using 1 m DEMs generated in 2016 resampled to 3 m and a combination of ArcGIS Pro Tools, ArcPy Scripts, Whitebox GAT tools, and R scripts. The stream networks, which are further used in the calculation of HAND and DTW, were determined using a flow accumulation threshold of 2000 meters squared based on a literature-accepted range, chosen specifically based on knowledge of the areas of interest. The neighborhood size range for DEVmax was chosen on two scales, allowing for the identification of both local and more global minima and maxima: squares centered at each pixel ranging from 9 to 303 meters and 9 to 1203 meters wide. The neighborhood size chosen by the algorithm at each pixel maximizes the deviation from the average. Files that include the neighborhood size chosen are included for reference. All files are included as GeoTIFF files.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date November 26, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date November 26, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-65dcd2c3d34eb64889e195df
Data Last Modified 2024-07-12T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 6f6c5c9a-4cf1-4e87-93bc-629b2e389a71
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 7ffad70ce76f76c45971cebe2f2749c691c070eb4400fce33912172b6314fc09
Source Schema Version 1.1

Didn't find what you're looking for? Suggest a dataset here.