Low Elevation Coastal Zone (LECZ)

Note:  Users are encouraged to access the Urban-Rural Population and Land Area Estimates, v3 (1990, 2000, 2015) data set, which includes more recent inputs from the Gridded Population of the World Version 4.11 data collection and others to allocate population. The data are available by expanding the "Data Sets" list at left or going directly to https://doi.org/10.7927/d1x1-d702.

The low elevation coastal zones (LECZs) were produced by ISciences based on the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission 90m (SRTM90) Digital Elevation Model (DEM). Grid cells contiguous to coastlines and less than 20m in elevation were isolated and classified into sequential non-overlapping meter level categories. Grid cells greater than 20m elevation or non-contiguous were combined into a single category, and cells seaward of the coastline were also grouped together.

The Urban-Rural Population Estimates, v1 (1990, 1995, 2000) data set used 1km Gridded Rural Urban Mapping Project (GRUMP) alpha data for the year 2000 to produce global, country level estimates of persons, and land area below 10m coastal elevation. A number of papers were published outlining the work on this data set and are available for review:

Methodology, analysis and results in Environment & Urbanization:

McGranahan, G., D. Balk and B. Anderson. 2007. The rising tide: assessing the risks of climate change and human settlements in low elevation coastal zones. Environment & Urbanization, Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 17-37. International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). http://eau.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/19/1/17.

Preliminary results of this analysis were also summarized in Tiempo Climate Bulletin:

McGranahan, G. D. Balk and B. Anderson. 2006. Low coastal zone settlements. Tiempo 59 (April).

Press release: International Institute for Environment and Development