Accuracy assessment and improvement of SRTM, ASTER, FABDEM, and MERIT DEMs by polynomial and optimization algorithm: A case study (Khuzestan Province, Iran)

Abstract

Abstract Satellite digital elevation models (DEMs) are used for decision-making in various fields. Therefore, evaluating and improving vertical accuracy of DEM can increase the quality of end products. This article aimed to increase the vertical accuracy of most popular satellite DEMs (i.e., the ASTER, Shuttle Radar Topography Mission [SRTM], Forest And Buildings removed Copernicus DEM [FABDEM], and Multi-Error-Removed Improved-Terrain [MERIT]) using the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. For this purpose, at first, the vertical error of DEMs was estimated via ground truth data. Next, a second-order polynomial was applied to model the vertical error in the study area. To select the polynomial with the highest accuracy, employed for vertical error modeling, the coefficients of the polynomial have been optimized using the PSO algorithm. Finally, the efficiency of the proposed algorithm has been evaluated by other ground truth data and in situ observations. The results show that the mean absolute error (MAE) of SRTM DEM is 4.83 m while this factor for ASTER DEM is 5.35 m, for FABDEM is 4.28, and for MERIT is 3.87. The obtained results indicated that the proposed model could improve the MAE of vertical accuracy of SRTM, ASTER, FABDEM, and MERIT DEMs to 0.83, 0.51, 0.37, and 0.29 m, respectively.