SRTM V003: Global 30-Meter Digital Elevation Model with Pixel Source Data

NASA Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) Version 3.0 global 1 arc second (~30 meter) number product. The data results from a collaborative effort by NASA, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and German and Italian space agencies, collected during the STS-99 Space Shuttle Endeavour mission launched on February 11, 2000. It provides a near-global digital elevation model (DEM) covering land between 60° N and 56° S latitude, representing approximately 80% of Earth's total landmass.

Use Cases

• Terrain analysis and hydrological modeling based on the global 30-meter digital elevation model.
• Assessing data source reliability for elevation pixels based on the ancillary 'NUM' files indicating SRTM or ASTER sources.
• Filling elevation voids in other datasets using the improved Version 3.0 data, which incorporates ASTER GDEM, GMTED2010, and NED.
• Radar interferometry research based on the SRTM data collection method described.

Strengths

• Provides near-global coverage of approximately 80% of Earth's landmass between 60° N and 56° S latitude.
• Version 3.0 improvements include void filling using ASTER GDEM V2.0, GMTED2010, and NED data sources.
• Includes ancillary 'NUM' files specifying the source (SRTM or ASTER) and number of data takes or scenes for each pixel.

Limitations

• Known data quality issues are documented in a separate publication (Rodriguez et al., 2006), requiring external review.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale projects.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC).

Collection Method

Generated via radar interferometry from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) payload on Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-99).

Time Range

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

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 23:55:21.880964; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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