Library · Noun reference

elevation

Surface elevation on a native raster grid.

Quick facts

Fact	Value
Semantic type	Static continuous field
Units	m; native vertical reference
Source flavors	usgs_3dep
Access	Explicit bounded acquisition; optional offline snapshot replay

Usage

from cubedynamics.data.three_dep import elevation

elevation(*, bbox, source='usgs_3dep', tile_id=None, snapshot_dir=None, offline=False)

The signature above is generated from the installed loader. Call acquisition before composing the analysis pipe.

Arguments

Argument	Meaning	Default
bbox	WGS84 west, south, east, north; <=0.02° per side in CONUS.	required
source	Only usgs_3dep.	'usgs_3dep'
tile_id	Optional exact ScienceBase version ID; otherwise require one Current-tagged tile.	None
snapshot_dir	Optional new directory to retain exact responses; use a new directory for a live refresh.	None
offline	Replay verified snapshots only; never download missing content.	False

Available sources

Source	Coverage	Resolution	Time
usgs_3dep	CONUS; one fully covering native tile	1/3 arc-second; native cells	Static tile version, not a time series

Returned data

An xarray.DataArray named elevation, with y, x native cell-center coordinates. North is up. There is no invented time axis. Attributes retain CRS, units, nodata, transform, tile metadata, query bounds, exact response provenance, and the interpretation contract.

Order / grammar behavior

Use v.mean over a spatial dimension, ordinary callables for explicit spatial transformations, and xarray maps. Temporal anomaly/event verbs require time and are not appropriate for this static surface.

Minimal reproducible example

Live acquisition below requires network access and the source's optional dependencies. The complete offline lesson uses checksum-verified real inputs and shows a plot at every step.

from cubedynamics.data.three_dep import elevation
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

field = elevation(bbox=(-105.300, 39.985, -105.291, 39.994))
field.plot(cmap="terrain")
plt.show()

See the data

A real 3DEP window, north up. This is static terrain: no invented time axis, resampling, or vertical-datum conversion.

Code and interpretation · Figure and input hashes

Quality and provenance

Implemented and documented here as a scientific noun. Operational certification remains bounded: no production serving revision has been assigned. Retained real-data samples, numerical/schema checks, and replay tests are distinct from broad scientific suitability or live-service guarantees.

usgs_3dep: 256 native pixels per side; 80 requests / 8 MB bodies / 180 s. No mosaics, resampling, silent tile clipping, or vertical conversion. Requires Rasterio >=1.4. A requested historical tile is not asserted current.

Validation evidence and release gates. No automatic source switching or synthetic substitution.