Validation of the new SRTM digital elevation model (NASADEM) with ICESAT/GLAS over the United States

Abstract

A new version of the digital elevation model (DEM) generated from Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data is to begin release in 2016. The so-called NASADEM results from re-processing the raw radar echoes and telemetry, guided by global measurements of topography from the ICESat's Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS). Significant improvements in accuracy were obtained thanks to the removal of large-scale systematic biases due to a variety of arte-facts ranging from residual boom oscillations to the presence of vegetation.