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    • OCS Area Polygons

    Metadata Updated: January 25, 2026

    Metadata

    These polygon features represent the areas comprising the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) as defined by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). In the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), the term "Outer Continental Shelf" is defined as "(1) all submerged lands lying seaward and outside of the area of lands beneath navigable waters as defined in the Submerged Lands Act, and of which the subsoil and seabed appertain to the United States and are subject to its jurisdiction and control or within the exclusive economic zone of the United States and adjacent to any territory of the United States; and (2) does not include any area conveyed by Congress to a territorial government for administration (43 USC 1331).

    Under international law, the continental shelf extends to the outer edge of the continental margin, or to 200nm from the baseline, whichever is greater. Where the outer edge of the continental margin extends beyond 200 nm from the baseline, the outer limits of the continental shelf are determined in accordance with Article 76 of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
    The outer limits of the U.S. continental shelf, in areas beyond 200 nm, are established by the U.S. Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) Project led by the Department of State, the Department of the Interior, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
    These data are not NOT an OFFICIAL record of exact boundaries and should be used for cartographic purposes only. These data should not be used to calculate areas.

    Access & Use Information

    Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: us-pd

    Downloads & Resources

    Dates

    Metadata Created Date September 11, 2025
    Metadata Updated Date January 25, 2026

    Metadata Source

    Harvested from DOI BOEM DCAT-US

    Other Data Resources

    Additional Metadata

    Resource Type Dataset
    Metadata Created Date September 11, 2025
    Metadata Updated Date January 25, 2026
    Publisher Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
    Maintainer
    Identifier https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=8dbc5e97fc3346f58466c2de7b2fc870&sublayer=1
    Data First Published 2024-03-05T20:51:27Z
    Data Last Modified 2025-03-05T19:30:37.055Z
    Category Geospatial
    Public Access Level public
    Bureau Code 010:06
    Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
    Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/boem-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 8be76bf4-b540-4ec0-baad-47011ca56a7f
    Harvest Source Id 1c6917da-8697-4548-9680-18518631fb48
    Harvest Source Title DOI BOEM DCAT-US
    Homepage URL https://boem-metaport-boem.hub.arcgis.com/datasets/BOEM::ocs-area-polygons
    License https://www.usa.gov/publicdomain/label/1.0/
    Metadata Type geospatial
    Old Spatial -180.0000,-17.5550,180.0000,82.4774
    Program Code 010:000
    Source Datajson Identifier True
    Source Hash 58b57e62c460bc336e71a5d17a06f2a12b1a509874ba351c44d4c47e2f67db91
    Source Schema Version 1.1
    Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -180.0000, -17.5550, -180.0000, 82.4774, 180.0000, 82.4774, 180.0000, -17.5550, -180.0000, -17.5550}

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