Download Lagoon Creek Topography files

For the Lagoon Creek test problem for the CRESCENT TSHA workshop in September, 2026.

See: https://depts.washington.edu/ptha/CopesHubTsunamis/LagoonCreek/

NOTE: Using 1/3" topo from the Crescent City DEM and 1" topo from the new 2025 CRM Volume 7 DEM. Newer fine-scale topography is being developed by NCEI and may be available soon.

The topography used here is adequate for the purposes of this test problem, but if you plan to do research in this area, check for better topography.

It is also worth noting that present-day topography may not be suitable if you plan to do modeling with a tsunami source that might be a good model for the 1700 event to compare to the paleo data, since the topography may have changed dramatically since then.

%matplotlib inline

from pylab import *
from clawpack.geoclaw import topotools

import clawpack
clawpack

<module 'clawpack' from '/Users/rjl/clawpack_src/clawpack-v5.14.0/clawpack/__init__.py'>

1/3 arcsecond topo

From 2010, currently the best available.

url = 'https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/thredds/dodsC/regional/crescent_city_13_mhw_2010.nc'
extent = [-124.12, -124.087, 41.578, 41.608]
#topo13s = topotools.fetch_remote_topo(url, crop_extent=extent)
topo13s = topotools.read_netcdf(url, extent=extent)
print(f'Shape: (number of lat, lon values): {topo13s.Z.shape}')

Shape: (number of lat, lon values): (324, 356)

topo13s.plot();

topo13s.plot(limits=(-20,20))
name = 'LagoonCreek13s'
title(name)
fname = f'{name}.png'
savefig(fname, bbox_inches='tight')
print('Created ', fname)

Created  LagoonCreek13s.png

fname = f'{name}.asc'
topo13s.write(fname, topo_type=3, header_style='asc', Z_format='%8.3f')
print(f'Created {fname}')

Created LagoonCreek13s.asc

1 arcsecond topo

# Old link, don't use this!
#url = 'https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/thredds/dodsC/crm/crm_vol7.nc'

# proper link for the new 2025 version, which is consistent with the CC 1/3" DEM:
url = 'https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/thredds/dodsC/crm/cudem/crm_vol7_2025.nc'

extent = [-124.3, -124., 41.5, 41.8]
topo1s = topotools.read_netcdf(url, extent=extent)
print(f'Shape: (number of lat, lon values): {topo1s.Z.shape}')

Shape: (number of lat, lon values): (1080, 1080)

name = 'LagoonCreek1s'
topo1s.plot(limits=(-100,100))
title(name)
fname = f'{name}.png'
savefig(fname, bbox_inches='tight')
print('Created ', fname)

Created  LagoonCreek1s.png

fname = f'{name}.asc'
topo1s.write(fname, topo_type=3, header_style='asc', Z_format='%8.3f')
print(f'Created {fname}')

Created LagoonCreek1s.asc

30 arcsecond etopo 2022

extent = [-138, -121, 37, 52]
coarsen = 1 # do not coarsen
url_etopo = 'https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/thredds/dodsC/global/ETOPO2022/30s/30s_bed_elev_netcdf/ETOPO_2022_v1_30s_N90W180_bed.nc'
etopo30sec = topotools.read_netcdf(url_etopo, extent=extent, coarsen=coarsen)
print(f'Shape: (number of lat, lon values): {etopo30sec.Z.shape}')

Shape: (number of lat, lon values): (1800, 2040)

name = 'etopo30sec'
etopo30sec.plot()
title(name)
fname = f'{name}.png'
savefig(fname, bbox_inches='tight')
print('Created ', fname)

Created  etopo30sec.png

fname = f'{name}.asc'
etopo30sec.write(fname, topo_type=3, header_style='asc', Z_format='%8.3f')
print(f'Created {fname}')

Created etopo30sec.asc