Salt River from Summit to Seafloor: A Study of Shaded Relief Techniques for Coastal Environments

Abstract. Maps often rely on a stroke to delineate hydrological features. However, at large scales, these boundaries are usually a series of dynamic transitions across terrestrial and aquatic environments, particularly when considering wetlands. Borrowing classic mountain cartography techniques, this paper presents workflows to create a large-scale map of the coastal topography at Salt River, St. Croix, USVI, from summit to seafloor. I include lessons learned from working with disparate datasets, descriptions of customized illuminated shaded relief techniques, and a new way to represent mangroves.