Gippsland Lakes Digital Elevation Model

The Gippsland Lakes are a large coastal lagoon system in Victoria with major settlements on their shores and a potential inundation area of over 700sq km. A digital elevation model (DEM) of the Gippsland Lakes was developed in 2002 to support flood level estimation. The ANUDEM program, produced by the Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies at the Australian National University was used to produce the DEM from a comprehensive range of data sources including digitised contours from aerial photogrammetry and survey data from local authorities . The Gippsland Lakes DEM provides a digital description of the terrain surface lying below 5 metres on the Australian Height Datum (AHD), including the bathymetry of the lakes, and gives continuous elevation values over the entire study domain. The DEM provides a useful tool for extracting cross-sections of model input, computing storage volumes for confined areas and displaying computed flood extents. The DEM has been developed for use in modeling high flow events and should not be used to assess inundations patterns under low flow conditions.