Accuracy assessment of SRTM v4 and ASTER GDEM v2 over the Altiplano watershed using ICESat/GLAS data

Abstract

The new Global Digital Elevation Model (GDEM v2) has been available since 17 October 2011. With a resolution of approximately 30 m, this model should provide more accurate information than the latest version of Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM v4) with a resolution of 90 m outside of the USA. The accuracies of these two recently released digital elevation models (DEMs) were assessed over the Altiplano watershed in South America using ICESat/GLAS data (Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite/Geoscience Laser Altimeter System). On the global scale, GDEM v2 is more accurate than SRTM v4, which presents a negative bias of approximately 8.8 m. Strong correlations between the DEMs' accuracies and mean slope values occurred. Regarding land cover, SRTM v4 could be more accurate or easier to correct on a smaller scale than GDEM v2. Finally, a merged and corrected DEM that considers all of these observations was built to provide more accurate information for this region. The new model featured lower absolute mean errors, standard deviations, and root mean square errors relative to SRTM v4 or GDEM v2.

Correction of Interferometric and Vegetation Biases in the SRTMGL1 Spaceborne DEM with Hydrological Conditioning towards Improved Hydrodynamics Modeling in the Amazon Basin

“…ICESat/GLAS instrument demonstrates height accuracies of 3 cm over water bodies [60][61][62]. Due to its high accuracy, ICESat/GLAS data can be used as GCPs [48,60,61]. In this study, we used the most recent release of the GLA14 data (v34), specific for land-surface elevation.…”

Comparative Assessments of the Latest GPM Mission’s Spatially Enhanced Satellite Rainfall Products over the Main Bolivian Watersheds

“…Drought and flood scenarios can be predicted or understood from the rainfall analysis, Salar system (TDPS), La Plata and Amazon with a superficial extent of approximately 149,000, 226,000 and 716,000 km 2 , respectively ( Figure 1a). The Altiplano region is trapped between the occidental and oriental cordillera at a mean elevation of 4000 m with mean slope value of 4.7 • [11,12]. The climate throughout the region is semi-arid with mean rainfall of 350 mm (1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015).…”

SRTM Dem-Aided Dem Extraction Method for Island and Reef

“…The dataset features a resolution of 3 arc-seconds (90 m near the equator) and spans 60° N to 56° S. Its horizontal coordinate datum and height datum are the World Geodetic System 84 (WGS84) ellipsoid and the Earth Gravitational Model 96 (EGM96) geoid model, respectively. It has attracted extensive attentions from researchers since distribution, and the accuracy evaluation results from both official and researchers have shown that its accuracy is higher than ASTER GDEM by far (Rodrí guez et al 2006;Satge et al 2015). Therefore, SRTM DEM V4.1 is chosen as reference data in this paper.…”