Heard Island Elevation Model from TerraSAR-X Stereo Pairs

A 10-meter cell size Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of Heard Island was created from TerraSAR-X stereo pairs acquired between October 31 and November 14, 2009. The Australian Antarctic Data Centre commissioned the work, which includes accuracy assessments and auxiliary files.

Use Cases

• Analyze terrain elevation and slope using the 10-meter resolution geotiff DEM.
• Assess DEM accuracy by comparing model outputs to ground control points listed in the provided spreadsheet.
• Identify source imagery coverage for specific DEM regions using the included shapefile.
• Evaluate stereo pair correlation quality at each point using the provided correlation geotiff.

Strengths

• 10-meter spatial resolution provides detailed terrain data.
• Includes an accuracy assessment spreadsheet with ground control points for validation.
• Multiple auxiliary files (shapefile, correlation map, metadata) support analysis.

Limitations

• Data is from a narrow 15-day acquisition window in late 2009, limiting temporal analysis.
• Coverage is restricted to Heard Island, reducing generalizability.
• Unknown sample size and row count for the underlying point data.

Provenance

Source

Australian Antarctic Data Centre (AU_AADC), derived from NASA EarthData (TerraSAR-X).

Collection Method

Created via radargrammetric methods using ascending and descending TerraSAR-X stereo image pairs.

Time Range

2009-10-31 to 2009-11-14

Freshness

2009-11 - Single snapshot, no updates.

Geography

Heard Island, Southern Ocean, projected in UTM zone 43 (WGS84).