NASA Shuttle Radar Topography Mission Global 30 arc second elevation data from the SRTMGL30 product over eastern Africa, 2000.
View full-size imageThe 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 30 arc second (~1,000 meter) product.
The NASA SRTM product with sample spacing of 3 arc second (~90 meter) generated by a 3 X 3 averaging of the 1 arc second data are then 10 X 10 averaged to produce thirty 30 arc second (~1,000 meter) data to correspond with Global 30 Arc Second Elevation (GTOPO30). (See the User Guide Section 2.1.4)
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.
| Characteristic | Description |
|---|---|
| Collection | MEaSUREs SRTM |
| DOI | 10.5067/MEaSUREs/SRTM/SRTMGL30.002 |
| File Size | ~9.87 MB |
| Temporal Resolution | Multi-Day |
| Temporal Extent | 2000-02-11 to 2000-02-21 |
| Spatial Extent | Global (60°N to 56°S, 180°W to 180°E) |
| Coordinate System | Geographic Latitude and Longitude |
| Datum | WGS84/EGM96 |
| File Format | DEM |
| Geographic Dimensions | 50° x 40° |
| Characteristic | Description |
|---|---|
| Number of Science Dataset (SDS) Layers | 1 |
| Columns/Rows | 6000 x 4800 |
| Pixel Size | ~1000 m |
| SDS Name | Description | Units | Data Type | Fill Value | No Data Value | Valid Range | Scale Factor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DEM | Elevation | Meters | 16-bit signed integer | -32768 | N/A | -32767 to 32767 (0 at sea level) | N/A |
Scientists used a method called Kinematic Global Positioning System Geodetic field surveying to validate the SRTM data. This method facilitates the very rapid long lines of precise positions from a moving vehicle. Several entities conducted the actual survey work, including private contractors, NGA geodesists and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) scientists. In all, about 70,000 kilometers of survey lines were collected in support of this mission. The data were used to model long-wavelength error sources.
In addition, NASA’s JPL deployed corner reflectors during the mission. These are highly reflective structures that appear as a bright point in the radar image. These reflectors deployed with precisely measured coordinates, served as control points in the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data.
SRTMGL30 is Version 2.1 and has not been updated for the NASA SRTM V3.0 release as described in the User Guide.
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.72.3.249