Culminating more than four years of processing data, NASA and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) have completed Earth's most extensive global topographic map. The mission is a collaboration among NASA, NGA, and the German and Italian space agencies. For 11 days in February 2000, the space shuttle Endeavour conducted the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) using C-Band and X-Band interferometric synthetic aperture radars to acquire topographic data over 80% of the Earth's land mass, creating the first-ever near-global data set of land elevations. This data was used to produce topographic maps (digital elevation maps) 30 times as precise as the best global maps used today. The SRTM system gathered data at the rate of 40,000 per minute over land. They reveal for the first time large, detailed swaths of Earth's topography previously obscured by persistent cloudiness. The data will benefit scientists, engineers, government agencies and the public with an ever-growing array of uses. The SRTM radar system mapped Earth from 56 degrees south to 60 degrees north of the equator. The resolution of the publicly available data is three arc-seconds (1/1,200th of a degree of latitude and longitude, about 295 feet, at Earth's equator). The final data release covers Australia and New Zealand in unprecedented uniform detail. It also covers more than 1,000 islands comprising much of Polynesia and Melanesia in the South Pacific, as well as islands in the South Indian and Atlantic oceans. SRTM data are being used for applications ranging from land use planning to "virtual" Earth exploration. Currently, the mission's homepage "http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm" provides direct access to recently obtained earth images. The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission C-band data for North America and South America are available to the public. A list of complete public data set is available at "http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/dataprod.htm" The data specifications are within the following parameters: 30-meter X 30-meter spatial sampling with 16 meter absolute vertical height accuracy, 10-meter relative vertical height accuracy, and 20-meter absolute horizontal circular accuracy. From the JPL Mission Products Summary, "http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/dataprelimdescriptions.html". The primary products of the SRTM mission are the digital elevation maps of most of the Earth's surface. Visualized images of these maps are available for viewing online. Below you will find descriptions of the types of images that are being generated:

• Radar Image
• Radar Image with Color as Height
• Radar Image with Color Wrapped Fringes
  -Shaded Relief
• Perspective View with B/W Radar Image Overlaid
• Perspective View with Radar Image Overlaid, Color as Height
• Perspective View of Shaded Relief
• Perspective View with Landsat or other Image Overlaid
• Contour Map - B/W with Contour Lines
• Stereo Pair
• Anaglypgh

The SRTM radar contained two types of antenna panels, C-band and X-band. The near-global topographic maps of Earth called Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) are made from the C-band radar data. These data were processed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and are being distributed through the United States Geological Survey's EROS Data Center. Data from the X-band radar are used to create slightly higher resolution DEMs but without the global coverage of the C-band radar. The SRTM X-band radar data are being processed and distributed by the German Aerospace Center, DLR.

The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) was flown aboard the space shuttle Endeavour February 11-22, 2000. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) participated in an international project to acquire radar data which were used to create the first near-global set of land elevations. The radars used during the SRTM mission were actually developed and flown on two Endeavour missions in 1994. The C-band Spaceborne Imaging Radar and the X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (X-SAR) hardware were used on board the space shuttle in April and October 1994 to gather data about Earth's environment. The technology was modified for the SRTM mission to collect interferometric radar, which compared two radar images or signals taken at slightly different angles. This mission used single-pass interferometry, which acquired two signals at the same time by using two different radar antennas. An antenna located on board the space shuttle collected one data set and the other data set was collected by an antenna located at the end of a 60-meter mast that extended from the shuttle. Differences between the two signals allowed for the calculation of surface elevation. Endeavour orbited Earth 16 times each day during the 11-day mission, completing 176 orbits. SRTM successfully collected radar data over 80% of the Earth's land surface between 60° north and 56° south latitude with data points posted every 1 arc-second (approximately 30 meters). Two resolutions of finished grade SRTM data are available through EarthExplorer from the collection held in the USGS EROS archive: 1 arc-second (approximately 30-meter) high resolution elevation data offer worldwide coverage of void filled data at a resolution of 1 arc-second (30 meters) and provide open distribution of this high-resolution global data set. Some tiles may still contain voids. The SRTM 1 Arc-Second Global (30 meters) data set will be released in phases starting September 24, 2014. Users should check the coverage map in EarthExplorer to verify if their area of interest is available. 3 arc-second (approximately 90-meter) medium resolution elevation data are available for global coverage. The 3 arc-second data were resampled using cubic convolution interpolation for regions between 60° north and 56° south latitude. [Summary provided by the USGS.]

The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM, see Farr et al. 2007) digital elevation data is an international research effort that obtained digital elevation models on a near-global scale. This SRTM V3 product (SRTM Plus) is provided by NASA JPL at a resolution of 1 arc-second (approximately 30m). This dataset has undergone a void-filling process using open-source data (ASTER GDEM2, GMTED2010, and NED), as opposed to other versions that contain voids or have been void-filled with commercial sources. For more information on the different versions see the SRTM Quick Guide. Documentation: User's Guide General Documentation Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document (ATBD)

The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) was a partnership between NASA and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). Flown aboard the NASA Space Shuttle Endeavour (11-22 February 2000), SRTM fulfilled its mission to map the world in three dimensions. The USGS is under agreement with NGA and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to distribute SRTM elevation products derived from the C-band radar data. SRTM utilized interferometric C-band Spaceborne Imaging Radar to generate elevation data over 80 percent of the Earth's land surface. Global SRTM data at a resolution of 1 arc-second have been edited to delineate and flatten water bodies, better define coastlines, remove spikes and wells, and fill small voids. Larger areas of missing data or voids were filled by the NGA using interpolation algorithms in conjunction with other sources of elevation data. The SRTM 1 Arc-Second Global data offer worldwide coverage of void filled data at a resolution of 1 arc-second (30 meters) and provide open distribution of this high-resolution global data set.

The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) is a collaborative effort from NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and NGA (National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency) as well as DLR (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft-und Raumfahrt) and ASI (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana). SRTM was flown aboard the Endeavour space shuttle in February 2000 to provide a high-resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM). The SRTM instrumentation consisted of the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C (SIR-C) with an additional antenna to form a 60 meters long baseline. As a result of the SRTM mission, several DEM versions have been released since 2003, which differ in terms of data processing and procedures applied for the filling of voids (areas not or poorly observed by the SRTM radar observations).

SRTM v3.0 (SRTM Plus) is the newest version, published in 2015 by NASA as a part of NASA Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) project, which incorporates topographic data to fill the gaps or voids in earlier versions of SRTM data. For the void filling with the Delta Surface Fill algorithm, ASTER DEMs have been used as auxiliary data source, or interpolations have been applied. Many variants of DEM are available in SRTM v3.0, with SRTMGL1 being one of the key products from SRTM v3.0. ‘GL1’ on its name stands for “Global 1-arc second”. It provides regularly spaced DEM grids of 1 arc-second (approximately 30 meters) and covering 80% of Earth’s landmass, between 60° North and 56° South. This product is divided into 1° x 1° latitude and longitude tiles in “geographic” projection, as shown here.

A typical file of the SRTMGL1 dataset requires 25 MB memory (without compression) and stores exactly one 1°x1° tile; it contains 3,601 lines and 3,601 columns, which sum up to around 100 GB (compressed) and 350 GB (uncompressed) for the global data set of 14297 tiles. Individual tile names refer to the latitude and longitude of southwest (lower left) corner of the tile, e.g., tile N20W030 has lower left corner at 20°N and 30°W, covering area of 20-21°N and 30-29°W. The absolute vertical accuracy for SRTM heights has been found to be ~9 m (90 % confidence) or better (Rodriguez et al. 2005).

Geodetic information: The SRTM GL1 DEMs are vertically referenced to the EGM96 geoid and horizontally referenced to the WGS84 (World Geodetic System 1984).

Further notes: The SRTM DEM represents bare ground elevations only where vegetation cover and buildings are absent. Over most areas, the DEM elevations reside between the bare ground (terrain) and top of canopies (surface), so are technically a mixture of terrain and surface models. Few artefacts, e.g., pits or spikes may still be present in the data set.

Data access: The homepage of SRTM mission is http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/. SRTM v3.0 datasets can be searched in MEASURES webpage and acquired freely from USGS website (http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/) and USGS data pool (http://e4ftl01.cr.usgs.gov/SRTM/).References:Farr, T.G., E. Caro, R. Crippen, R. Duren, S. Hensley, M. Kobrick, M. Paller, E. Rodriguez, P. Rosen, L. Roth, D. Seal, S. Shaffer, J. Shimada, J. Umland, M. Werner, 2007, The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. Reviews of Geophysics, volume 45, RG2004, doi:10.1029/2005RG000183.NASA, The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) Collection User Guide. Available on https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/sites/default/files/public/measures/docs/NASA_SRTM_V3.pdfRodriguez, E., C.S. Morris, J.E. Belz, E.C. Chapin, J.M. Martin, W. Daffer, S.Hensley, 2005, An assessment of the SRTM topographic products, Technical Report JPL D-31639, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, 143 pp. available on http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/SRTM_D31639.pdf

The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) obtained elevation data on a near-global scale to generate the most complete high-resolution digital topographic database of Earth. SRTM consisted of a specially modified radar system that flew onboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour during an 11-day mission in February of 2000. SRTM is an international project spearheaded by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Version 3: Elimination of the voids in the NASA SRTM DEM was the primary goal of a project under the NASA MEaSUREs (Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments) Program. Ultimately this was achieved by filling the voids with elevation data primarily from the ASTER GDEM2 (Global Digital Elevation Model Version 2) and secondarily from the USGS GMTED2010 elevation model or the USGS National Elevation Dataset (NED). For more information on this dataset visit the LP DAAC NASA Shuttle Radar Topography Mission Global 3 arc second page.

The data contained in this file is one of several datasets produced in support of the project entitled “Classification and Mapping of Cave and Karst Resources” for the region encompassing the Appalachian Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC). The results of this project are divided into a series of geospatial information layers (shapefiles and raster data). The files provide a comprehensive overview of data availability on obligate cave-dwelling fauna and bat ranges useful for examining relationships between environmental factors and biological diversity and distribution within karst areas of the Appalachian LCC.

The CGIAR-CSI GeoPortal is able to provide SRTM 90m Digital Elevation Data for the entire world. The SRTM digital elevation data, produced by NASA originally, is a major breakthrough in digital mapping of the world, and provides a major advance in the accessibility of high quality elevation data for large portions of the tropics and other areas of the developing world. The SRTM digital elevation data provided on this site has been processed to fill data voids, and to facilitate it's ease of use by a wide group of potential users. This data is provided in an effort to promote the use of geospatial science and applications for sustainable development and resource conservation in the developing world. Digital elevation models (DEM) for the entire globe, covering all of the countries of the world, are available for download on this site. The SRTM 90m DEM's have a resolution of 90m at the equator, and are provided in mosaiced 5 deg x 5 deg tiles for easy download and use. All are produced from a seamless dataset to allow easy mosaicing. These are available in both ArcInfo ASCII and GeoTiff format to facilitate their ease of use in a variety of image processing and GIS applications. Data can be downloaded using a browser or accessed directly from the ftp site.

Abstract: This research aims to determine the vertical accuracy of the Interferometric Digital Elevation Model (DEM) obtained from the processed Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM) data. The research compared the SRTM-GL1 (Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission-Global 1) with 30-meter resolution and the following 90-meter resolution models: (a) EMBRAPA; (b) Hydrological data and maps based on Shuttle Elevation Derivatives at multiple Scales (HydroSHEDS) (HydroSHEDS), provided by the United States Geological Survey (USGS); (c) Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research-Consortium for Spatial Information (CGIAR-CSI); and (d) Jonathan de Ferranti. The accuracy analysis considered the diverse Brazilian regions, adopting 1,087 field points from the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) trackers or topography methods. The Jonathan de Ferranti model achieved the best accuracy with RMSE of 9.61m among the 90-meter resolution models. Most SRTM models at 1:100,000 scale reached Grade A of the Cartographic Accuracy Standard. However, the accuracy at the 1: 50,000 scale did not achieve the same performance. SRTM errors are linearly related to slope and the most significant errors always occur in forest areas. The 30-meter resolution SRTM showed an accuracy of around 10% better (RMSE of 8.52m) than the model of Jonathan de Ferranti with 90-meter resolution (RMSE of 9.61m).

The Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC) is responsible for the archive and distribution of NASA Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) Digital Elevation Model (DEM) version 1 (NASADEM_SIM) dataset, which provides global Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) image mosaic data at 1 arc second spacing.

NASADEM data products were derived from original telemetry data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), a collaboration between NASA and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), as well as participation from the German and Italian space agencies. SRTM's primary focus was to generate a near-global DEM of the Earth using radar interferometry. It was a primary component of the payload on space shuttle Endeavour during its STS-99 mission, which was launched on February 11, 2000, and flew for 11 days.

In addition to Terra Advanced Spaceborne Thermal and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) Global Digital Elevation Model (GDEM) Version 2 data, NASADEM also relied on Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) ground control points of its lidar shots to improve surface elevation measurements that led to improved geolocation accuracy. Other reprocessing improvements include the conversion to geoid reference and the use of GDEMs and Advanced Land Observing Satellite Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping (PRISM) AW3D30 DEM, and interpolation for void filling.

NASADEM are distributed in 1 degree latitude by 1 degree longitude tiles and consist of all land between 60° N and 56° S latitude. This accounts for about 80% of Earth's total landmass.

NASADEM_SIM data product layers include radar combined images and a NUM file associated with combined images. A low-resolution browse image showing the SRTM image mosaic elevation is also available for each NASADEM_SIM granule.

The Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC) is responsible for the archive and distribution of NASA Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) SRTM, which includes the global 3 arc second (~90 meter) product. The 3 arc second data was derived from the 1 arc second using averaging methods. (See Figure 3 in the User Guide) The NASA SRTM data sets result from a collaborative effort by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA - previously known as the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, or NIMA), as well as the participation of the German and Italian space agencies. This collaboration aims to generate a near-global digital elevation model (DEM) of Earth using radar interferometry. SRTM was the primary (and virtually only) payload on the STS-99 mission of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, which launched February 11, 2000 and flew for 11 days.The SRTM swaths extended from ~30 degrees off-nadir to ~58 degrees off-nadir from an altitude of 233 kilometers (km), creating swaths ~225 km wide, and consisted of all land between 60° N and 56° S latitude to account for 80% of Earth's total landmass. The SRTMGL3 data were generated from SRTM1GL data that fall within that tile. These elevation files use the extension ".HGT", meaning height (such as N37W105.SRTMGL3.HGT). The primary goal of creating the Version 3 data was to eliminate gaps, or voids, that were present in earlier versions of SRTM data. In areas with limited data, existing topographical data were used to supplement the SRTM data to fill the voids. The source of each elevation pixel is identified in the corresponding SRTMGL3N product (such as N37W105.SRTMGL3N.NUM).The global 3 arc second SRTM product is also available in NetCDF4 format as the SRTMGL3_NC dataset with the source of each elevation pixel in the corresponding SRTMGL3_NUMNC product.Known Issues Known issues in the NASA SRTM are described in the following publication: * Rodriguez, E., C. S. Morris, and J. E. Belz (2006), A global assessment of the SRTM performance, Photogramm. Eng. Remote Sens., 72, 249–260. https://doi.org/10.14358/PERS.72.3.249Improvements/Changes from Previous Version Voids in the Version 3.0 products were filled with ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model (GDEM) Version 2.0, the Global Multi-resolution Terrain Elevation Data 2010 (GMTED2010), and the National Elevation Dataset (NED).

To provide an improved mapping of the seafloor fabric globally, we have used available sounding data along with an improved global marine gravity model to develop at grid at 15 arcsecond resolution (~500 m). Land elevations are based on the best available data from SRTM, ASTER digital elevation models while the ice topography of Greenland and Antarctica is based on CryoSat-2 and IceSat. Ocean bathymetry is based on bathymetric predictions from the latest global gravity model from CryoSat-2 and Jason-1 along with 494 million carefully edited depth soundings at 15 arcsecond resolution. Bathymetry of the Arctic seafloor is based on the IBCAO grid with improved resolution in areas of multibeam coverage. We have used the bathymetry grid along with the improved gravity to construct a global map of abyssal hill amplitude and orientations and compare the orientations with predictions from seafloor age gradient analysis. Areas of disagreement reveal propagating rifts, microplates, and tectonic reorganizations. This SRTM15_PLUS provides the foundational bathymetry layer for Google Earth and is freely available at our ftp site (topex.ucsd.edu).

The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) successfully collected Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (IFSAR) data over 80 percent of the landmass of the Earth between 60 degrees North and 56 degrees South latitudes in February 2000. The mission was co-sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) performed preliminary processing of SRTM data and forwarded partially finished data directly to NGA for finishing by NGA's contractors and subsequent monthly deliveries to the NGA Digital Products Data Wharehouse (DPDW). All the data products delivered by the contractors conform to the NGA SRTM products and the NGA Digital Terrain Elevation Data (DTED) to the Earth Resources Observation & Science (EROS) Center. The DPDW ingests the SRTM data products, checks them for formatting errors, loads the SRTM DTED into the NGA data distribution system, and ships the public domain SRTM DTED to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation & Science (EROS) Center.

Two resolutions of finished grade SRTM data are available through EarthExplorer from the collection held in the USGS EROS archive:

1 arc-second (approximately 30-meter) high resolution elevation data are only available for the United States.

3 arc-second (approximately 90-meter) medium resolution elevation data are available for global coverage. The 3 arc-second data were resampled using cubic convolution interpolation for regions between 60° north and 56° south latitude.

[Summary provided by the USGS.]

The data contained in this file is one of several datasets produced in support of the project entitled “Classification and Mapping of Cave and Karst Resources” for the region encompassing the Appalachian Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC). The results of this project are divided into a series of geospatial information layers (shapefiles and raster data). The files provide a comprehensive overview of data availability on obligate cave-dwelling fauna and bat ranges useful for examining relationships between environmental factors and biological diversity and distribution within karst areas of the Appalachian LCC.

Abstract

This dataset and its metadata statement were supplied to the Bioregional Assessment Programme by a third party and are presented here as originally supplied.

The 3 second (\~90m) Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM) Digital Elevation Model (DEM) version 1.0 was derived from resampling the 1 arc second (\~30m) gridded DEM (ANZCW0703013355). The DEM represents ground surface topography, and excludes vegetation features. The dataset was derived from the 1 second Digital Surface Model (DSM; ANZCW0703013336) by automatically removing vegetation offsets identified using several vegetation maps and directly from the DSM. The 1 second product provides substantial improvements in the quality and consistency of the data relative to the original SRTM data, but is not free from artefacts. Man-made structures such as urban areas and power line towers have not been treated. The removal of vegetation effects has produced satisfactory results over most of the continent and areas with defects are identified in the quality assessment layers distributed with the data and described in the User Guide (Geoscience Australia and CSIRO Land & Water, 2010). A full description of the methods is in progress (Read et al., in prep; Gallant et al., in prep). The 3 second DEM was produced for use by government and the public under Creative Commons attribution.

The 3 second DSM and smoothed DEM are also available (DSM; ANZCW0703014216,

DEM-S; ANZCW0703014217).

Dataset History

Source data

1. SRTM 1 second Version 2 data (Slater et al., 2006), supplied by Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation (DIGO) as 813 1 x 1 degree tiles. Data was produced by NASA from radar data collected by the Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission in February 2000.

2. GEODATA 9 second DEM Version 3 (Geoscience Australia, 2008) used to fill voids.

3. SRTM Water Body Data (SWBD) shapefile accompanying the SRTM data (Slater et al., 2006). This defines the coastline and larger inland waterbodies for the DEM and DSM.

4. Vegetation masks and water masks applied to the DEM to remove vegetation.

5. 1 second DEM resampled to 3 second DEM.

1 second DSM processing

The 1 second SRTM-derived Digital Surface Model (DSM) was derived from the 1 second Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission data by removing stripes, filling voids and reflattening water bodies. Further details are provided in the DSM metadata (ANZCW0703013336).

1 second DEM processing (vegetation offset removal)

Vegetation offsets were identified using Landsat-based mapping of woody vegetation. The height offsets were estimated around the edges of vegetation patches then interpolated to a continuous surface of vegetation height offset that was subtracted from the DSM to produce a bare-earth DEM. Further details are provided in the 1 second DSM metadata (ANZCW0703013355).

Void filling

Voids (areas without data) occur in the data due to low radar reflectance (typically open water or dry sandy soils) or topographic shadowing in high relief areas. Delta Surface Fill Method (Grohman et al., 2006) was adapted for this task, using GEODATA 9 second DEM as infill data source. The 9 second data was refined to 1 second resolution using ANUDEM 5.2 without drainage enforcement. Delta Surface Fill Method calculates height differences between SRTM and infill data to create a "delta" surface with voids where the SRTM has no values, then interpolates across voids. The void is then replaced by infill DEM adjusted by the interpolated delta surface, resulting in an exact match of heights at the edges of each void. Two changes to the Delta Surface Fill Method were made: interpolation of the delta surface was achieved with natural neighbour interpolation (Sibson, 1981; implemented in ArcGIS 9.3) rather than inverse distance weighted interpolation; and a mean plane inside larger voids was not used.

Water bodies

Water bodies defined from the SRTM Water Body Data as part of the DSM processing were set to the same elevations as in the DSM.

Edit rules for land surrounding water bodies

SRTM edit rules set all land adjacent to water at least 1m above water level to ensure containment of water (Slater et al., 2006). Following vegetation removal, void filling and water flattening, the heights of all grid cells adjacent to water was set to at least 1 cm above the water surface. The smaller offset (1cm rather than 1m) could be used because the cleaned digital surface model is in floating point format rather than integer format of the original SRTM.

Some small islands within water bodies are represented as voids within the SRTM due to edit rules. These voids are filled as part of void filling process, and their elevations set to a minimum of 1 cm above surrounding water surface across the entire void fill.

Overview of quality assessment

The quality of vegetation offset removal was manually assessed on a 1/8 ×1/8 degree grid. Issues with the vegetation removal were identified and recorded in ancillary data layers. The assessment was based on visible artefacts rather than comparison with reference data so relies on the detection of artefacts by edges.

The issues identified were:

\* vegetation offsets are still visible (not fully removed)

\* vegetation offset overestimated

\* linear vegetation offset not fully removed

\* incomplete removal of built infrastructure and other minor issues

DEM Ancillary data layers

The vegetation removal and assessment process produced two ancillary data layers:

\* A shapefile of 1/8 × 1/8 degree tiles indicating which tiles have been affected by vegetation removal and any issue noted with the vegetation offset removal

\* A difference surface showing the vegetation offset that has been removed; this shows the effect of vegetation on heights as observed by the SRTM radar

instrument and is related to vegetation height, density and structure.

The water and void fill masks for the 1 second DSM were also applied to the DEM. Further information is provided in the User Guide (Geoscience Australia and CSIRO Land & Water, 2010).

Resampling to 3 seconds

The 1 second SRTM derived Digital Elevation Model (DEM) was resampled to 3 seconds of arc (90m) in ArcGIS software using aggregation tool. This tool determines a new cell value based on multiplying the cell resolution by a factor of the input (in this case three) and determines the mean value of input cells with the new extent of the cell (i.e. Mean value of the 3x3 input cells). The 3 second SRTM was converted to integer format for the national mosaic to make the file size more manageable. It does not affect the accuracy of the data at this resolution. Further information on the processing is provided in the User Guide (Geoscience Australia and CSIRO Land & Water, 2010).

Further information can be found at http://www.ga.gov.au/metadata-gateway/metadata/record/gcat_aac46307-fce9-449d-e044-00144fdd4fa6/SRTM-derived+3+Second+Digital+Elevation+Models+Version+1.0

Dataset Citation

Geoscience Australia (2010) Geoscience Australia, 3 second SRTM Digital Elevation Model (DEM) v01. Bioregional Assessment Source Dataset. Viewed 11 December 2018, http://data.bioregionalassessments.gov.au/dataset/12e0731d-96dd-49cc-aa21-ebfd65a3f67a.

The SRTM grid cell area dataset has values of cell area in square metres.

The grid cell area product was derived from the Smoothed Digital Elevation Model (DEM-S; ANZCW0703014016), which was derived from the 1 second resolution SRTM data acquired by NASA in February 2000.

The calculation of grid cell area from the DEM-S accounted for the varying spacing between grid points in the geographic projection.

The SRTMUS1 collection was retired on November 20, 2014, when global SRTM data became available at a resolution of 1 arc second. The data for the United States are included in the SRTMGL1 dataset.The Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC) is responsible for the archive and distribution of the NASA Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) version SRTM, which includes the United States 1 arc second (~30 meter) product.NASA Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) datasets result from a collaborative effort by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA - previously known as the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, or NIMA), as well as the participation of the German and Italian space agencies. The purpose of SRTM was to generate a near-global digital elevation model (DEM) of the Earth using radar interferometry. SRTM was a primary component of the payload on the Space Shuttle Endeavour during its STS-99 mission. Endeavour launched February 11, 2000, and flew for 11 days.Each SRTMUS1 data tile contains a mosaic and blending of elevations generated by averaging all "data takes" that fall within that tile. These elevation files use the extension “.HGT”, meaning height (such as N37W105.SRTMUS1.HGT). The primary goal of creating the Version 3 data was to eliminate voids that were present in earlier versions of SRTM data. In areas with limited data, existing topographical data were used to supplement the SRTM data to fill the voids. The source of each elevation pixel is identified in the corresponding SRTMUS1N product (such as N37W105.SRTMUS1N.NUM).SRTM collected data in swaths, which extend from ~30 degrees off-nadir to ~58 degrees off-nadir from an altitude of 233 kilometers (km). These swaths are ~225 km wide and consisted of all land between 60 degrees N and 56 degrees S latitude. This accounts for about 80% of Earth’s total landmass.Known Issues Known issues in the NASA SRTM are described in the following publication:Rodriguez, E., C. S. Morris, and J. E. Belz (2006), A global assessment of the SRTM performance, Photogramm. Eng. Remote Sens., 72, 249–260. https://doi.org/10.14358/PERS.72.3.249Improvements/Changes from Previous Version Voids in the Version 3.0 products have been filled with ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model (GDEM) Version 2.0, the Global Multi-resolution Terrain Elevation Data 2010 (GMTED2010), and the National Elevation Dataset (NED).

Aspect measures the direction in which a land surface slope faces. The direction is expressed in degrees from north.

The aspect products were derived from the Smoothed Digital Elevation Model (DEM-S; ANZCW0703014016), which was derived from the 1 arc-second resolution SRTM data acquired by NASA in February 2000. The calculation of aspect from DEM-S accounted for the varying spacing between grid points in the geographic projection.

The aspect data are available at 1 arc-second and 3 arc-second resolution

The 3” resolution version of the aspect product has been masked by the 3” water and ocean mask datasets. Lineage: Source data 1. 1 arc-second SRTM-derived Smoothed Digital Elevation Model (DEM-S; ANZCW0703014016).
2. 1 arc-second aspect product 3. 3 arc-second resolution SRTM water body and ocean mask datasets

Aspect calculation Aspect was calculated at 1 arc-0second resolution from DEM-S using the finite difference method (Gallant and Wilson, 2000). The different spacing in the E-W and N-S directions due to the geographic projection of the data was accounted for by using the actual spacing in metres of the grid points calculated from the latitude.

The 3 arc-second resolution version of the aspect product was derived from the 1 arc-second slope and aspect products by reconstructing the x and y components of the surface normal vector, averaging those components, then calculating aspect from the aggregated components.

The aspect calculation was performed on 1° x 1° tiles, with overlaps to ensure correct values at tile edges. The data were masked using the 1" or 3” resolution water and ocean mask datasets.

References Gallant, J.C. and Wilson, J.P. (2000) Primary topographic attributes, chapter 3 in Wilson, J.P. and Gallant, J.C. Terrain Analysis: Principles and Applications, John Wiley and Sons, New York.

A global 1-km resolution land surface digital elevation model (DEM) derived from U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 30 arc-second SRTM30 gridded DEM data created from the NASA Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). GTOPO30 data are used for high latitudes where SRTM data are not available. For a grayscale hillshade image layer of this dataset, see "world_srtm30plus_dem1km_hillshade" in the distribution links listed in the metadata.

Abstract

The dataset was derived by the Bioregional Assessment Programme from the 1 second SRTM Digital Elevation Model (DEM) dataset. The source dataset is identified in the Lineage field in this metadata statement. The processes undertaken to produce this derived dataset are described in the History field in this metadata statement.

A clipped version of the Australia wide 1 second -S DEM, version 1, which limits the size to the rectangular extent of the Galilee Basin Subregion, enhancing speed and efficiency for visualisation and processing.

The metadata for the Geoscience Australia 1 sec SRTM is below:

The 1 second DSM, DEM, DEM-S and DEM-H are national elevation data products derived from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data. The SRTM data is not suitable for routine application due to various artefacts and noise.

The data has been treated with several processes to produce more usable products:

\* A cleaned digital surface model (DSM)

\* regular grid representing ground surface topography as well as other features including vegetation and man-made structures

\* A bare-earth digital elevation model (DEM)

\* regular grid representing ground surface topography, and where possible, excluding other features such as vegetation and man-made structures.

\* A smoothed digital elevation model (DEM-S)

\* A smoothed DEM based on the bare-earth DEM that has been adaptively smoothed to reduce random noise typically associated with the SRTM data in low relief areas.

\* A hydrologically enforced digital elevation model (DEM-H)

\* A hydrologically enforced DEM is based on DEM-S that has had drainage lines imposed and been further smoothed using the ANUDEM interpolation software.

The last product, a hydrologically enforced DEM, is most similar to the DEMs commonly in use around Australia, such as the GEODATA 9 Second DEM and the 25 m resolution DEMs produced by State and Territory agencies from digitised topographic maps.

For any analysis where surface shape is important, one of the smoothed DEMs (DEM-S or DEM-H) should be used. DEM-S is preferred for shape and vertical accuracy and DEM-H for hydrological connectivity. The DSM is suitable if you want to see the vegetation as well as the land surface height. There are few cases where DEM is the best data source, unless access to a less processed product is necessary.

The 1 second DEM (in its various incarnations) has quite different characteristics to DEMs derived by interpolation from topographic data. Those DEMs are typically quite smooth and are based on fairly accurate but sparse source data, usually contours and spot heights supplemented by drainage lines. The SRTM data is derived from radar measurements that are dense (there is essentially a measurement at almost every grid cell) but noisy.

Version 1.0 of the DSM was released in early 2009 and version 1.0 of the DEM was released in late 2009. Version 1.0 of the DEM-S was released in July 2010 and version 1.0 of the hydrologically enforced DEM-H was released in October 2011. These products provide substantial improvements in the quality and consistency of the data relative to the original SRTM data, but are not free from artefacts. Improved products will be released over time.

The 3 second products were derived from the 1 second data and version 1.0 was released in August 2010. Future releases of these products will occur when the 1 second products have been improved. At this stage there is no 3 second DEM-H product, which requires re-interpolation with drainage enforcement at that resolution.

Purpose

To enhance the speed and efficiency for visualisation and processing of the smoothed 1 second DEM data within the Galilee Basin Subregion

Dataset History

The original, Australia wide, 1 second smoothed DEM was clipped to rectangular extents of the Galilee subregion using the Spatial Analyst 'Extract By Rectangle' tool in ESRI ArcCatalog v10.0 with the following parameters:

Input raster: source 1 second SRTM

Extent: Galilee Basin subregion polygon

Extraction Area: INSIDE

'no data' values are created outside the clip extent therefore the extent of the dataset may still reflect the national DEM extent in ArcCatalog. Check the tool details for more info.

The lineage of the source 1 second SRTM is below:

The following datasets were used to derive this version of the 1 second DEM products:

Source data

1. SRTM 1 second Version 2 data (Slater et al., 2006), supplied by Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation (DIGO) as 813 1 x 1 degree tiles. Data were produced by NASA from radar data collected by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission in February 2000.

2. GEODATA 9 second DEM Version 3 (Geoscience Australia, 2008) used to fill voids.

3. SRTM Water Body Data (SWBD) shapefile accompanying the SRTM data (Slater et al., 2006). This defines the coastline and larger inland waterbodies for the DEM and DSM.

4. Vegetation masks and water masks applied to the DEM to remove vegetation.

Full metadata, methodologies and lineage descriptions can be found in the PDF userguide within this dataset.

Dataset Citation

Bioregional Assessment Programme (2014) Smoothed Digital Elevation Model (DEM) - 1 arc second resolution - Clipped to Galilee Subregion extent. Bioregional Assessment Derived Dataset. Viewed 10 December 2018, http://data.bioregionalassessments.gov.au/dataset/0fe257aa-8845-4183-9d05-5b48edd98f34.

Dataset Ancestors

• Derived From Geoscience Australia, 1 second SRTM Digital Elevation Model (DEM)