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Shuttle Radar Topography Mission

GEOG 482: Nature (Spring 2007)


Kent Stanton June 19, 2007

of

Geographic

Information

Project 3: Topic C: Shuttle Radar Topography Mission

The Mission:
In February of 2000 the Space Shuttle Endeavour flew an earth sciences mission called the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) designed to produce a high-resolution near-global elevation data set. The eleven-day mission used a single-pass interferometric synthetic aperture radar sensor to image the continental areas of the earth between 60 degrees north latitude and 54 degrees south latitude. This provided coverage of roughly 80% of the earth's land surface. (NASA, Shuttle Radar Topography Mission Overview) The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) was a cooperative effort of NASA, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA - formerly NIMA, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency), The German Aerospace Center (DIR), and the Italian Space Agency (ASI). The SRTM goals called for the creation of digital elevation model (DEM) with a horizontal resolution of 30 meters. Prior to the SRTM the best global DEM was the GTOPO30 DEM compiled by the USGS from a variety of existing topographic data sources. Completed in 1996, GTOPO30 has a horizontal spacing of approximately one kilometer with topographic accuracy dependant on the quality of the original data. (GTOPO30) Portions of the GTOPO30 data set had been gathered using space borne interferometric radar, but The SRTM improved on previous efforts to gather topographic data from space in several important ways. Previous efforts including the use of satellites capable of collecting elevation data, and two previous shuttle missions in the mid-1990s, relied on the use of multiple-pass interferometry while the SRTM used a single pass approach. Radar Interferometry refers to processing two complementary radar signals to derive additional information by analyzing phase difference between the two signals. Combining two images to derive elevation data makes interferometry sound very much like photogrammetry, and there are conceptual similarities. But the derivation of topographic data from overlapping photographs is based on angle measurements (parallax). Radar
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Shuttle Radar Topography Mission

interferometry derives topography from an analysis of the phase difference between the two radar signals. (Hannsen 2001, p. 17) Multi-pass interferometry (the type used prior to the SRTM) relies on the space vehicle imaging an area on multiple orbits. The data from these separate passes is correlated and processed to create the 3D representation. But this technique suffers from the difficulty of precisely correlating data from different passes. Also, changing atmospheric conditions can introduce variation into the phase comparison that is not easily removed during processing. The SRTM overcame these problems by capturing the two data sets at the same time using two physically separated antennae; one in the shuttle cargo bay and the other at the end of a 60-meter mast. The use of radar (as opposed to imaging systems that measure other types of electro-magnetic radiation) provided an additional significant benefit. Because radar emits the radiation used by the sensor (active sensing), it can be used at night and without regard to cloud cover (radar penetrates clouds). This was critical to the mission goal of capturing a topographic snapshot of the earth because in just 159 orbits. Even with the instrument capturing a a 225 kilometer wide swath, the mission approached the limit of how long the shuttle can operate in this manner. For this reason radar is the only way to get this level of coverage in a short period of time.

JSC2000E-01557 (January 2000) --- This partially computer-generated scene depicts Shuttle Radar Topography Mission Pgina 2

Shuttle Radar Topography Mission anticipated coverage by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) of topographic features on Earth. Heavy cloud cover, hurricanes and cyclonic storms can prevent optical cameras on satellites or aircraft from imaging some areas. SRTM radar, with its long wavelength, will penetrate clouds as well as providing its own illumination, making it independent of daylight. NASA, Human Space Flight Images

But radar also has limitations as an imaging sensor. The wavelength of the radiation that we call radar is relatively long, falling in the microwave area of the electromagnetic spectrum. One outcome of this characteristic of radar is that the size of the antenna determines the imaging resolution (the larger antenna the higher the resolution). Since the physical size of the antennas used on the SRTM were limited by the practicalities of launching and deploying the instruments, an approach called synthetic aperture radar was used to improve the resolution of the system. Synthetic aperture radar uses a pulsed radar signal to simulate a larger antenna. Instead of basing a measurement on a single instantaneous signal, synthetic aperture radar combines multiple signals -captured in rapid succession while the platform is moving to simulate a larger antenna. This synthetic antenna produces higher resolution. The mission also made use of radars operating at two different frequencies; a C-band system provided by NASA and an X-band system provided by the DIR. The German Xband system yielded higher resolution but at the cost of imaging a much narrower ground swath on each pass (providing approximately half the coverage of the C-band instrument). However, the data produced by the X-band system was needed to fill voids in areas not captured effectively by the C-band sensor. (Hanssen, 2001) The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission presented NASA with significant engineering challenges and resulted in several important space firsts. In particular, using the distance from the tip of the shuttle's opposite wing to the edge of the outboard antenna (the mast), the structure spanned 83 meters (272 feet). This made it the largest rigid structure ever flown in space. (NASA Shuttle Radar Topography Mission FAQs) And the characteristics of this mast in a large part determined the horizontal resolution of the data. Because the mast was not perfectly rigid, and flexed when the shuttle thrusters were fired, special instrumentation was used to constantly measure and track the location of the mast radar sensor. The resolution of the system depended on knowing the exact position of the mast borne radar antenna relative to the main sensor in the Shuttle's cargo bay, so an additional system called the AODA was used to track and continuously record the positional data as well. This AODA data was used during post mission processing of the data to remove noise caused by variation in the relative positions of the two radar sensors. (Farr 2007)
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Shuttle Radar Topography Mission

JSC2000E01559 (January 2000) -- An artist's concept depicts the Space Shuttle Endeavour with its 200-ft. (60 meter) mast deployed in Earth orbit. NASA, Human Space Flight Images

The Data: With the mast deployed, and the sensor activated, the radar system captured data continuously while over land resulting in the accumulation of over ten terabytes of data over the course of the mission. The data capture rate of the sensors exceeded the maximum data transfer capability of the shuttle by a factor of six so it was not possible
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Shuttle Radar Topography Mission

to transmit the bulk of this data to earth in real-time (NASA Shuttle Radar Topography Mission FAQs). Instead the data was stored on the shuttle --on 330 high-density magnetic tapes-- and became available for processing only after the shuttle had landed. During the mission limited amounts of the data were transferred to earth for verification and alignment purposes. (Farr 2007) After the shuttle returned to earth the C-band data tapes were transferred to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena California for preliminary processing and the X-band data was sent to the DIR for processing. It took nearly two years for the JPL to fully process the raw radar echoes to produce what is called the unfinished data set. This step consisted of the interferometric processing --comparing the phase relationship of the two signals to produce a 3D data set-- while at the same time correlating the data with the AODA data. Considerable error checking and correction was also applied and the raw data was cross-checked with a variety of existing topographic data sources to detect and correct errors. (Farr 2007) The data was processed on a continent-by-continent basis to create one-degree by onedegree tiles that are named using the coordinates of the southwest corner of the tile. The tiles, formatted according to the Digital Terrain Elevation Data (DTED) specification, were then forwarded to the NGA for further refinement. The raw data set is at a resolution of 1 arc second (30 meters), but tiles using this resolution have been released only for United States and its territories. All other areas of the world are limited to three arc second resolution (90 meter). ( Shuttle Radar Topography Mission)

One limitation of the system was that the broad swath imaged by the C-band radar resulted in radar shadows in areas of high relief. This was especially true near the edges of a swath where the beam struck the earth at an angle. In these areas mountains and canyons sometimes created radar shadows that resulted in data voids. In some cases these voids could be filled using data from other passes (the swaths captured on each pass overlapped), or using data captured by the X-band system. However, for some areas no SRTM data was available and the voids were filled using alternative data sources and/or interpolation. These areas amount to less than .2% of the total area covered but tend to be concentrated. Considerable post-processing effort has been applied to fill these voids with accurate data. (Farr 2007) From a paper in the March 2006 edition of Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing, "Some of these voids can be attributed to the complex nature of IFSAR technology, while topographic shadowing can cause others." This paper, Filling SRTM
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Shuttle Radar Topography Mission

Voids, the Delta Surface Fill Method, describes both the issues that cause data voids and the ways in which the problems were be fixed. This paper is detailed, but readable, and provides an excellent introduction to the issues encountered in processing the SRTM data set. (Grohman, 2006)

An example of an unedited tile and the finished version of the same tile. Notice the data void in the top center portion of the left image. The void has been filled in the edited image. (EROS SRTM Topo Documentation)

A second enhancement of the data done by the NGA was the use of existing water boundary files to create distinct and accurate water boundaries in the DEM. The radar used on the SRTM does not generally show bodies of water as smooth even-elevation surfaces. So, existing boundaries were used to improve the accuracy of water body boundaries. The SRTM data was then averaged to associate a single elevation with the body of water boundary. A by-product of this process was the creation of an SRTM water body data file -- essentially a 30-meter resolution water mask. This data has been made available to the user community along with the other SRTM data sets. (Gesch 2006)

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Shuttle Radar Topography Mission

(A comparison of water boundaries before and after the water boundary enhancement processing. Slater, The Generation and Dissemination of "Finished" SRTM Data Products by NGA National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Slide Presentation at the SRTM Data Validation and Applications Workshop, June 14-16,2005 Slide 9)

An additional distinction that separates the SRTM based DEM from other digital elevation models is that the SRTM radar produced elevations based on the height of man-made structures and the vegetative canopy. This is known as first return and it is opposed to bare earth elevations that some other types of systems produce. This sometimes results in discrepancies when the SRTM data is matched up with other topographic data sets and it greatly complicated the use of external data to fill voids in the SRTM data. The volume of data in the SRTM data set has also created challenges for researchers attempting to use the data for spatial analysis. Toma noted that software that has been used to successfully process lower resolution DEMs --like the GTOPO30 data-- can be overwhelmed by the number of points in SRTM based data products. For example, when used with the SRTM data, commonly used algorithms for applying flow routing analysis to large areas were too slow to be of practical use and Toma describes new algorithms developed to apply this kind of analysis to the SRTM data set. (Toma, 2001)

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Shuttle Radar Topography Mission

Data Quality: The SRTM mission data quality requirements were very specific: 1. The linear vertical absolute height error shall be less than 16 m for 90% of the the the data. The 90% figure cited in the requirement is a confidence level in keeping the National Map Accuracy Standards. It means that at least 90% of the data meets the stated accuracy requirement. To verify that the requirements had been met NASA and the NGA compared data from the SRTM with data from a variety of sources and from ground measurements called ground truth data. This review showed that in general the data collected duri ng the SRTM exceeded the performance requirements of the mission by a factor of 2. As part of this verification process, and to aid in the alignment and processing of the data, GPS equipped vehicles were driven over long distances to create transects of location and elevation data that could be compared with the SRTM data set. (Rodrguez) The Data Products: The SRTM produced a highly-accurate global-scale digital elevation model (DEM). A DEM is a regular grid of location points with associated elevations that can be used for a variety of mapping, map generation, and map analysis purposes. Because a DEM consists of a regular array of points, the topography encoded in the DEM can be directly represented as a raster by associating a pixel (or a regularly shaped group of pixels) with each point. However, it is also possible to create a vector representation of a DEM by creating a triangulated irregular network (TIN). As discussed previously, processing the raw data to create usable data products was in itself a sizeable project and in the seven years since the shuttle flight the raw data gathered on the mission has been processed for use in a variety of ways. To understand data. data. data. 2. The linear vertical relative height error shall be less than 10 m for 90% of 3. The circular absolute geolocation error shall be less than 20 m for 90% of 4. The circular relative geolocation error shall be less than 15 m for 90% of the

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Shuttle Radar Topography Mission

what SRTM based data is available its helpful to first the put the different kinds of data into classes: SRTM Data Product Classes: Class:
Unfinished (raw)

Comments:
The data as processed by the JPL without extra processing. The raw form data is generally used by researchers.

Finished

The finished class data sets have been enhanced by filling voids and fixing errors knows as spikes and wells. In addition, water boundaries have been enhanced. The finished data sets are most appropriate for map making and analysis using GIS.

Enhanced

Enhanced data is based on the finished SRTM data but with additions and enhancements added by commercial data vendors. Enhanced DEMs based on the SRTM data are available from a variety of vendors.

Combined

The SRTM DEM combined with other data sets

SRTM Based Data Sets: Source:


National Elevation USGS

Comments:

As of November of 2006 the NED replaced a variety of Data (NED) Online Access: digital elevation data sets previous offered by the USGS Class: combined http://seamless.usgs.gov/ and simply called DEMs. The were available at The SRTM has been For Information: DEMs various levels of spatial used to fill-in and http://eros.usgs.gov/products/elevation/ned.html resolution and with varying enhance the other levels of accuracy. Also available on DVD at minimal cost data sets used to create the NED. SRTM DETD Level 1 EROS Class: finished Online http://seamless.usgs.gov/ For Information: Access: 3 arc second (90 meter)

global coverage Where ever the level 1 and level 2 data sets coincide they have been aligned so that the elevations on the two grids match

http://eros.usgs.gov/products/elevation/ned.html Also available on DVD at minimal cost

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Shuttle Radar Topography Mission SRTM DETD Level 2 EROS Class: finished Online http://seamless.usgs.gov/ For Information: 1 arc second (30) coverage of the United States and Access: territories

http://eros.usgs.gov/products/elevation/ned.html Also available on DVD at minimal cost (Source: USGS SRTM Products Page - http://edc.usgs.gov/products/elevation.html, retrieved on June 18, 2007)

One potential frustration of working with the SRTM data is that numerous references on the Internet to the data and its availability are no longer valid. For example, the initial release of the finished data set (in 2003 and 2004) was via an FTP server at the USGSs EROS data center. Many journal articles and web resources refer to obtaining the data from this source, but that server is no longer available. The primary source for acquiring SRTM based data sets is now USGS seamless distribution system found on the web at http://seamless.usgs.gov/. A good place to find an overview of the digital elevation data available from the USGS is: http://eros.usgs.gov/products/elevation.html

Additional Sources for SRTM based data sets:

USGS

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)viewing, download, and media copies (http://seamless.usgs.gov/ or http://eros. usgs.gov/products/elevation.html or ftp://e0srp01u.ecs. nasa.gov/srtm/

University of Maryland Global Land http://glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/data/srtm/ Cover Facility Consultative Group for International http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org/ Agriculture Research German Aerospace Center http://www.dlr.de/srtm/index_en.html

Integrated Committee on Earth http://iceds.ge.ucl.ac.uk/ Observation Satellites (CEOS) European Data Server (Gesch 2006) Shuttle Radar Topography Mission Pgina 10

Shuttle Radar Topography Mission

Using the Data: The USGS Seamless Data Distribution system can be used to view SRTM data online using a web browser and data sets can also be selected and downloaded. This site allows data sets to be defined by selecting map boundary features or by dragging out a selection rectangle to define the extent of the desired area. Using this site you can select and download data from the finished Version Two 1 Arc Second (30 meter) or 3 Arc Second (90 meter) data sets among many others.

A screen capture of the USGS Seamless Data Distribution system user interface. This map shows New York State's Catskill Mountains. The Hudson River is visible in the lower right corner. (retrieved on June 21, 2007)

ftp://e0srp01u.ecs.nasa.gov/srtm/. In addition to the data itself, files found on this server provide a good overview of how to use the data with popular GIS software such as ArcView. Both the version one (unfinished) and version two (finished) data sets are available from this server. The data on this site is provided in the .HGT file format and can be opened directly the the Global Mapper Application.

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Shuttle Radar Topography Mission

A one degree square data SRTM DEM tile displayed in Global Mapper.

However, using the SRTM data in this format with GIS software like ArcView requires the use of add-in software and/or special techniques. One approach, which involves the creation of header file to allow a DEM tile to be opened and used in ArcView directly, is described in detail on the FTP server referenced above. And a variety of tools to facilitate using this data with both AcrView and other GIS software are readily available on the Internet. But the easiest way to put the SRTM to use is download it from the Seamless Data Distribution site. Files from this site are provided in the Arc shapefile format and can be opened directly in ArcView.

The seamless DEM data for t This file was downloaded d Distribution site and opened shriking the image for displa significant loss of resolution.

Conclusion: The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission is regarded by many as the most important science mission ever flown by the Space Shuttle. The consistent coverage and accuracy
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Shuttle Radar Topography Mission

of the SRTM data set has made it useful in research endeavors ranging from the mapping and discovery of ancient irrigation channels in Mesopotamia (Hritz 2006) to the creation of new algorithms for dealing with high resolution DEMs as the basis for spatial analysis (Toma 2001). The total value of the SRTM lies not only in the initial results, in this case the SRTM data set, but also in the engineering and research done to support the project. There is every reason to expect that new uses for the SRTM data will continue to be found for years to come. And the snapshot of global topography that the mission produced might well prove to be invaluable at some future time, possibly for reasons not yet even imagined. Sources:
EROS SRTM Topo Documentation, ftp://e0srp01u.ecs.nasa.gov/srtm/version2/Documentation/SRTM_Topo.pdf, retrieved June 19, 2007 Farr, T. G., et al. (2007)The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, Rev. Geophys., 45, RG2004, doi:10.1029/2005RG000183. http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/SRTM_paper.pdf - retrieved June 19, 2007 Farr, Tom G.; Gesch, Dean B., Muller, Jan-Peter, The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission Data Validation and Applications PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING, VOLUME 72, NUMBER 3, March 2006 Grohman, Greg; George Kroenung, and John Strebeck, Filling STRM Voids, the Delta Surface Fill Method, VOLUME 72, NUMBER 3 PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING March 2006 http://www.asprs.org/publications/pers/2006journal/march/ retrieved June 19, 2007 GTOPO30 Project Home Page, http://edc.usgs.gov/products/elevation/gtopo30/gtopo30.html, retrieved on June 18, 2007 Hanssen, Ramon F.; Radar Interferometry. Data Interpretation and Error Analysis, Kluwer Academic Publishers 2001 Hritz, Carrie; Wilkinson, T. J.. Using Shuttle Radar Topography to map ancient water channels in Mesopotamia. Antiquity, Jun2006, Vol. 80 Issue 308, p415-424, 10p; (AN 21735723) Meade, Charles; Sandwll David T., Synthetic Aperture Radar for Geodesy, Science, New Series, Vol. 273, No. 5279. (Aug. 30, 1996), pp. 1181-1182. JSTOR Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00368075%2819960830%293%3A273%3A5279%3C1181%3ASARFG%3E2.0.CO%3B2-N NASA, Human Space Flight Images, keyword search: SRTM http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/search.cgi NASA, Shuttle Radar Topography Mission Overview , NASA SRTM Website http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/missionoverview.html - retrieved on June 10, 2007 NASA, Shuttle Radar Topography Mission FAQs, NASA SRTM Website, http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/faq.html - retrieved on June 9, 2007 Shuttle Radar Topography Mission Pgina 13

Shuttle Radar Topography Mission NASA, What Part of the Earth was Mapped?, NASA SRTM Website http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/coverage.html - retrieved on June 9, 2007 Slater, J.; The Generation and Dissemination of "Finished" SRTM Data Products by NGA National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Slide Presentation at the SRTM Data Validation and Applications Workshop, June 14-16 2005, The Generation and Dissemination of "Finished" SRTM Data Products by NGA Toma, Laura; Rajiv Wickremesinghe, Lars Arge, Jeffery S. Chase, Jeffery Scott Vitter, Patrick N. Halpin, Dean Urban., Proceedings of the 9th ACM international symposium on Advances in geographic information systems GIS '01, November 2001,ACM Press Wikipedia, Interferometric_synthetic_aperture_radar, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interferometric_synthetic_aperture_radar, retrieved on June 18, 2007 Wikipedia, Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SRTM, retrieved on June 18, 2007 This document is published in fulfillment of an assignment by a student enrolled in an educational offering of The Pennsylvania State University. The student, named above, retains all rights to the document and responsibility for its accuracy and originality.

Page Modified: June 3, 2011 http://www.personal.psu.edu/kas667/geog482/project3/project3.html

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Cuestionario:

A. Responda: Valor 4.0 1. Cules son los Principales objetivos de la Misin topogrfica Radar Shuttle (SRTM)

2. Qu instituciones trabajan en la SRTM? 3. Qu modelo de elevacin previo (A escala mundial) exista antes de la SRTM?, Qu resolucin espacial tiene este modelo? 4. El tamao de la antena determina alguna caracterstica en la SRTM? Por qu? Como corregirlo? 5. Describa los problemas presentados en la transferencia y conservacin de los datos captados. 6. Porque hay vacios en algunos modelos de elevacin?, cmo corregir esos vacios? 7. Una segunda mejora en la informacin es realizada por la NGA debido a cuerpos de agua. Comente los incidentes. 8. Que especificaciones en la calidad de los datos, cumple la SRTM 9. Cual es la resolucin de los datos en la SRTM? (30 metros, 90 metros, los dos?)Que tipo de productos genera la SRTM? quienes pueden usarlos?

B. Argumente Valor 1.0 10. Explique el principio usado en la adquisicin de datos, por el cual se genera el modelo de elevaciones. Qu clase de sensor fue usado en esta misin? Estos sensores son activos o pasivos? 11. Qu importancia cree usted que tiene la SRTM en los estudios relacionados con la Geologa?

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