NASADEM provides a global digital elevation model derived from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission's radar interferometry data. The dataset covers land between 60° N and 56° S latitude, representing approximately 80% of Earth's landmass. It was processed by NASA's Land Processes DAAC from the original SRTM telemetry collected during the STS-99 mission in February 2000.
Use Cases
- Modeling terrain slope and aspect from the SRTM-only floating-point DEM layer for hydrological flow analysis.
- Assessing elevation accuracy for specific regions using the height error layer provided in the data product.
- Generating low-resolution visualizations of global topography using the browse image available for each granule.
- Filling elevation voids in other datasets by leveraging the interpolation techniques applied during NASADEM reprocessing.
- Calibrating satellite altimetry or lidar data by comparing against the ICESat GLAS ground control points integrated into the model.
Strengths
- Global coverage of approximately 80% of Earth's landmass between 60° N and 56° S.
- Data derived from a dedicated space shuttle mission (STS-99) using radar interferometry.
- Enhanced accuracy through integration of ICESat lidar ground control points and other DEM sources.
- Distributed in standardized 1 degree by 1 degree latitude/longitude tiles for easy access.
Limitations
- Data collection occurred during a single 11-day mission in February 2000, providing a static snapshot.
- Coverage excludes polar regions (above 60° N and below 56° S) and all ocean areas.
- Original SRTM telemetry may contain voids filled via interpolation, potentially introducing uncertainty.
Provenance
- Source
- NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC), part of the MEaSUREs program.
- Collection Method
- Derived from Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) radar interferometry telemetry, reprocessed with auxiliary data from ICESat GLAS, ASTER GDEM, and AW3D30.
- Time Range
- Primary data collected during the STS-99 mission launched on February 11, 2000.
- Freshness
- null
- Geography
- Global land coverage between 60° North and 56° South latitude.