Product: These lidar data are processed Classified LAS 1.4 files, formatted to 5903 individual 1500 m x 1500 m tiles in NAD83(2011) UTM Zone 15N; used to create intensity images, 3D breaklines and hydro-flattened DEMs as necessary. Geographic Extent: AOI is located in Mississippi over Warren, Hinds, Claiborne, Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Wilkinson, and Amite Counties. The area of interest covers approximately 4,780 square miles. Dataset Description: Mississippi NRCS FY16 Lidar project called for the Planning, Acquisition, processing and derivative products of lidar data to be collected at a nominal pulse spacing (NPS) of 0.70 meter. Project specifications are based on the U.S. Geological Survey National Geospatial Program Base Lidar Specification, Version 1.2. The data was developed based on a horizontal projection/datum of NAD83, Universal Transverse Mercator, meters and vertical datum of NAVD88 (GEOID12B), meters. Lidar data was delivered as flightline-extent unclassified LAS swaths, as processed Classified LAS 1.4 files, formatted to 5303 individual 1,500m x 1,500m tiles in NAD83(2011) UTM Zone 15N, as tiled Intensity Imagery, and as tiled bare earth DEMs; all tiled to the same 1,500m x 1,500m schema. Please note that tiles 15RXQ330320 and 15RXQ405950 do not contain lidar points. The data boundary intersects these tiles and a hydro breakline was digitized based on this boundary. For this reason a hydro-flattened DEM IMG and Intensity Image was generated. There will be no LAS 1.4 for tiles 15RXQ330320 and 15RXQ405950. The DEM IMG/Intensity tiff file count is 5903. The LAS 1.4 count is 5901. Ground Conditions: Initial collection of lidar data took place January and February of 2016. During this time some significant precipitation events occurred in the region and led to increased water levels in the Mississippi River and surrounding low-lying areas. Due to these high water levels it was determined that data acquisition be postponed until water levels lowered. Approximately 80% of the AOI had been acquired at this point. The remaining 20% was collected in January of 2017. Some water level differences will be observed in the point cloud and DEM data due to the differing collection dates, specifically in the low-lying areas near the Mississippi River. Woolpert has taken great care to limit the amount of temporal differences between the two collection dates. In order to post process the lidar data to meet task order specifications and meet ASPRS vertical accuracy guidelines, Woolpert established a total of 103 ground control points that were used to calibrate the lidar to known ground locations established throughout the project area. Additional independent accuracy checkpoints were collected (120 NVA points and 90 VVA points) and used to assess the vertical accuracy of the data. These checkpoints were not used to calibrate or post process the data. Due to temporal variability, visible artifacts in the project DEM are evident within a historical floodplain along a portion of the Mississippi River. Lidar acquisition occurred when river levels were below action stage per NOAA flood gauge readings, however, some areas within the floodplain exhibited higher water levels during the January 2016 flights than what is observed in the January 2017 flights. This is specifically evident within oxbow streams and lakes found within the floodplain. Visible elevation variability in the DEM is located approximately within a bounding box of -91.36 degrees East Longitude, 31.85 degrees North Latitude; -91.24 West Longitude; 31.74 South Latitude. The NOAA Office for Coastal Management (OCM) downloaded 5901 MS_NatchezTrace_2016 laz files from this USGS site: ftp://rockyftp.cr.usgs.gov/vdelivery/Datasets/Staged/Elevation/LPC/Projects/USGS_LPC_MS_NatchezTrace_2016_LAS_2017/ and processed the data to the Data Access Viewer (DAV) and https. In addition to these lidar point data, the bare earth Digital Elevation Models (DEM) created from the lidar point data are also available. These data are available for custom download at the link provided in the URL section of this metadata record. Hydro breaklines are also available. These data are available for download at the link provided in the URL section of this metadata record. Please note that these products have not been reviewed by the NOAA Office for Coastal Management (OCM) and any conclusions drawn from the analysis of this information are not the responsibility of NOAA or OCM. This data set is an LAZ (compressed LAS) format file containing LIDAR point cloud data.