SRTMGL1: Global 30-Meter Digital Elevation Model from NASA Shuttle Mission

NASA Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data provides a near-global digital elevation model (DEM) of Earth's land surface at 1 arc second (~30 meter) resolution. The dataset was generated from radar interferometry during the STS-99 mission in February 2000 and covers about 80% of Earth's landmass between 60°N and 56°S. Version 3 products have been processed to eliminate voids using supplemental data from ASTER GDEM, GMTED2010, and the National Elevation Dataset.

Use Cases

• Terrain analysis and slope calculation based on the global 30-meter elevation data.
• Hydrological modeling for watershed delineation based on the filled void digital elevation model.
• 3D visualization and map creation based on the near-global land surface coverage.
• Change detection and landform classification based on the radar-derived elevation measurements.

Strengths

• Provides near-global coverage of approximately 80% of Earth's landmass.
• Offers high spatial resolution of 1 arc second, which is approximately 30 meters.
• Version 3 has addressed data gaps by filling voids with supplemental topographic datasets.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data coverage is limited to land between 60°N and 56°S latitude, excluding polar regions.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in collaboration with NGA and German/Italian space agencies.

Collection Method

Collected via radar interferometry from the Space Shuttle Endeavour during the STS-99 mission.

Time Range

Primary data collection occurred during the 11-day mission launched February 11, 2000.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 23:28:33.021200; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global land coverage between 60°N and 56°S latitude.