NASADEM: Global Land Elevation Model from SRTM Radar Data

NASADEM_SHHP is a global Digital Elevation Model (DEM) version 1 dataset produced by NASA's Land Processes DAAC. It provides Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) global elevation height data at 1 arc second spacing, covering all land between 60° N and 56° S latitude, which accounts for about 80% of Earth's total landmass. The data was derived from the SRTM mission flown on space shuttle Endeavour in February 2000 and reprocessed using additional satellite data to improve accuracy.

Use Cases

• Modeling water flow and watershed delineation based on global elevation data.
• Analyzing terrain for infrastructure planning and geological studies based on SRTM-derived height.
• Generating 3D visualizations and maps using the floating-point DEM layer.
• Assessing elevation measurement uncertainty for specific regions using the included height error data.

Strengths

• Covers approximately 80% of Earth's total landmass between 60° N and 56° S latitude.
• Provides data at a high resolution of 1 arc second spacing.
• Incorporates multiple data sources (SRTM, ASTER, ICESat, AW3D30) for improved geolocation accuracy and void filling.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the SRTM mission's coverage limits.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Derived from original SRTM telemetry data using radar interferometry, reprocessed with Terra ASTER, ICESat GLAS, and ALOS PRISM AW3D30 DEM data.

Time Range

Primary SRTM data collected during the STS-99 mission launched on February 11, 2000.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 23:27:51.837888; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global, covering all land between 60° N and 56° S latitude.