NASADEM Global Elevation Model Derived from Shuttle Radar Mission

NASADEM provides a near-global digital elevation model at 1 arc-second resolution, covering approximately 80% of Earth's landmass between 60°N and 56°S. The dataset was created by NASA's LP DAAC, derived from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) telemetry launched in February 2000, and enhanced with ASTER GDEM and ICESat lidar ground control. It is distributed in 1-degree tiles and includes layers for elevation, scene count, and water masks.

Use Cases

• Generate slope and aspect maps from the DEM layer for hydrological modeling.
• Use the NUM layer indicating scene count per pixel to assess data reliability for specific regions.
• Apply the water mask layer to distinguish land from water bodies in global land cover classification.
• Calibrate other satellite elevation products by comparing with NASADEM's geoid-referenced DEM values.
• Fill elevation voids in other datasets using NASADEM's interpolation methods described in the reprocessing.

Strengths

• Covers approximately 80% of Earth's total landmass.
• Provides 1 arc-second spatial resolution for detailed terrain analysis.
• Integrates multiple data sources including SRTM, ASTER GDEM, and ICESat GLAS for improved accuracy.

Limitations

• Data is limited to land between 60°N and 56°S, excluding polar regions and some high-latitude areas.
• The underlying SRTM mission data was collected over only 11 days in 2000, representing a single snapshot.
• Specific metrics on vertical accuracy, row counts, or file sizes are not provided in the description.

Provenance

Source

NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC), derived from Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) telemetry.

Collection Method

Generated from radar interferometry data from the STS-99 mission, reprocessed with ASTER GDEM, ICESat GLAS ground control, and other DEMs for void filling and geoid conversion.

Time Range

Primary data collection occurred during the 11-day STS-99 mission launched on February 11, 2000.

Freshness

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Geography

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