A Global Assessment of the SRTM Performance

TLDR

The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission collected interferometric radar data that JPL used to produce a near‑global topography product for latitudes below 60°, aiming for global consistency and quantified errors. This study documents the results of a global validation effort of the SRTM data set. An extensive global ground campaign by NGA and NASA gathered ground truth to enable validation of the SRTM product. The validation results, summarized in a table, show 90 % error bounds in meters for key metrics.

Abstract

The NASA/NGA Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) collected interferometric radar data which has been used by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to generate a near-global topography data product for latitudes smaller than 60°. One of the primary goals of the mission was to produce a data set that was globally consistent and with quantified errors. To achieve this goal, an extensive global ground campaign was conducted by NGA and NASA to collect ground truth that would allow for the global validation of this unique data set. This paper documents the results of this SRTM validation effort using this global data set. The table shown below summarizes our results (all quantities represent 90 percent errors in meters).