Global Elevation Model Derived from Shuttle Radar Topography Mission

NASADEM provides global elevation data at 1 arc second spacing, derived primarily from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) flown in February 2000. The dataset covers land between 60° N and 56° S latitude, accounting for approximately 80% of Earth's landmass. It was produced by NASA's LP DAAC using SRTM telemetry supplemented by ASTER GDEM and ICESat GLAS ground control points.

Use Cases

• Model hydrological flow and watershed boundaries using the DEM layer's elevation values.
• Analyze terrain roughness or slope for infrastructure planning by processing the DEM pixel data.
• Generate and validate a global water mask for land-water classification using the SRTM water body dataset layer.
• Assess data source reliability for a pixel by referencing the NUM layer indicating the number of processed scenes.
• Perform continental-scale geomorphological studies leveraging the 1 arc second resolution across 80% of Earth's landmass.

Strengths

• Global coverage spanning 60° N to 56° S latitude, covering about 80% of Earth's landmass.
• High-resolution elevation data provided at 1 arc second spacing.
• Data fusion from multiple sources including SRTM, ASTER GDEM, and ICESat GLAS for improved accuracy.

Limitations

• Temporal coverage is fixed to the SRTM mission date (February 2000), representing a snapshot rather than current conditions.
• Data voids in the original SRTM were filled via interpolation, which may introduce estimation errors.
• Coverage excludes polar regions above 60° N and below 56° S.

Provenance

Source

NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC).

Collection Method

Derived from Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) radar interferometry telemetry, supplemented by ASTER GDEM and ICESat GLAS lidar ground control points.

Time Range

Primary data source from the STS-99 mission launched on February 11, 2000.

Freshness

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Geography

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