Nature · Yosemite · summit and southern approach slopes
Half Dome: terrain elevation and local relief
Half Dome uses an approximately 2,670-meter surface estimate in EGM2008 from Copernicus GLO-30. The bounded terrain section has about 1,397 meters of local relief above its lowest sampled point. Published summit surveys are separate references.
≈ 2,670 m
Data-derived estimate- Measurement
- Highest sampled surface in the documented Copernicus terrain section · EGM2008
- Subject or version
- Yosemite · summit and southern approach slopes
- In feet, rounded
- 8,759.1 ft (1 ft = 0.3048 m)
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Terrain boundary, base and datum
- Vertical reference
- EGM2008. Published surveys are separate; no datum conversion is applied.
- Highest sampled surface
- 2669.8 m at 37.744444°, -119.534444°.
- Local base
- 1272.7 m at 37.748056°, -119.547778°. Lowest sampled point within this bounded terrain section.
- Section bounds in WGS84-G1150
- West -119.547917°, east -119.518472°; south 37.727917°, north 37.748750°.
- View and scale
- Orthographic map section facing north. Equal horizontal and vertical map scales. Approximate grid spacing: 24.5 m east-west and 30.8 m north-south. Lower and surrounding terrain omitted.
produced using Copernicus WorldDEM-30 © DLR e.V. 2010-2014 and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH 2014-2018 provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA; all rights reserved
A little more perspective
The National Park Service’s Yosemite map labels Half Dome at 8,836 feet, approximately 2,693 meters, while its visitor page rounds the summit to 8,800 feet. This Copernicus section reaches approximately 2,670 meters in EGM2008 near the selected summit. The northern boundary excludes higher neighboring terrain. The grid smooths the rock face; the bounded minimum does not measure the full rise above Yosemite Valley or a hiking itinerary.
The local-relief view subtracts the lowest sampled point in this section: 1272.7 meters at 37.748056° latitude, -119.547778° longitude. This produces about 1,397 meters of relief within the stated boundary. It is not a universal mountain base, a route’s total ascent, or topographic prominence.
The rendered surface uses the public 2021 Copernicus release, primarily based on TanDEM-X observations from 2011–2015 with infill from other sources. It is a surface model rather than a current bare-earth survey. Neutral shading explains the geometry without claiming a snow season or photographic ground texture. No datum conversion or summit correction is applied.
Quick facts
Half Dome uses an approximately 2,670-meter surface estimate in EGM2008 from Copernicus GLO-30. The bounded terrain section has about 1,397 meters of local relief above its lowest sampled point. Published summit surveys are separate references.
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Sources and measurement notes
- National Park Service: Yosemite Guide, August 20–September 23, 2025, valley map
- National Park Service: Half Dome visitor information, rounded elevation
- Copernicus DEM: dataset definition, datums and attribution
- Public Copernicus GLO-30 release documentation
- Wikidata: summit-area identity and initial coordinate
- Copernicus source terrain tile 1 (GeoTIFF)
The NPS map’s 8,836-foot reference is independent of this approximately 2,670-meter modeled summit-area surface.
Source review recorded . Maintained by Ishan Karunaratne. Suggest a correction with a source and the exact measurement being compared.