A High-Resolution Digital Bathymetric Elevation Model Derived from ICESat-2 for Adam's Bridge

A high-resolution Digital Bathymetric Elevation Model (DBEM) generated for the region, namely, Adam's Bridge, which encompasses a chain of shoals between Rameswaram Island, off the southeastern coast of Tamil Nadu, India, and Mannar Island, off the northwestern coast of Sri Lanka. The proposed dataset has taken advantage of the photon penetrability of the green laser of ICESat-2 LiDAR to derive the seafloor depth. Seafloor depths from ~0.2 million geolocated photons of ICESat-2 for the study area were accrued and interpolated to generate a 10 m digital bathymetric elevation model. Adam's Bridge, an isthmus and submerged reefal assemblage in shallow and supershallow waters, is a feature of scientific curiosity. Our dataset has the potential to enhance the understanding of Adam's Bridge structure by providing substantial information to reconstruct its evolution. The DBEM is in GeoTIFF file format with a cell size of 10 m (spatial resolution) projected in the Universal Transverse Mercator - UTM Zone 44N [EPSG:32644] coordinate system. The pixel values of the DBEM represent orthometric depth values (for the extent with sea water) and elevation values (for the extent with peninsula/land/islands) in meters.