Abstract
TerraSAR-X add-on for Digital Elevation Measurements (TanDEM-X) mission is designed to generate 3-D images of the Earth as the first bistatic synthetic aperture radar (SAR). However, few quantitative studies of TanDEM-X digital elevation model (DEM) quality validation have been conducted specifically in China. This article presents an iterative method to generate high-resolution TanDEM-X DEMs and assesses the vertical accuracy with high-accuracy GPS observations, 1 arc second global DEMs available [Advanced Land Observing Satellite World 3-D-30 m v2.2, Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer Global Digital Elevation Model (ASTER GDEM) v3, Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) v3.1, NASADEM, and X-band SRTM], and TanDEM-X 90 m DEM. The results demonstrate remarkable elevation quality and consistency in coastal areas with root mean square error of 1.7 m and 90% linear error (LE90) of 0.4 m, whereas 3–4 times weaker accuracies in steep mountainous areas. A positive bias of 1–2 m for an overall LE90 measure exists in the dense vegetation and steep-slope mountainous areas. TanDEM-X DEM-based SAR interferometry deformation uncertainty simulation indicates a low or even negligible topographic error contribution of 2–4 mm in mountainous areas and less than 1 mm in coastal areas. It indicates that the TanDEM-X DEM performs better than other global DEMs overall and shows a better elevation consistence with SRTM C-band DEM in the coastal area. As an excellent source of up-to-date information, the TanDEM-X DEM are expected be an advantage for understanding dynamic land use changes and improving identification and delineation of coastal lands, mountainous landslides, and earthquakes disasters.
Highlights
TOPOGRAPHY is a key parameter that influences many of the fundamental geophysical processes involved in Earth sciences and environmental research, as well as geolotion TanDEM-X digital elevation model (DEM) and assesses the vertical accuracy with cation based services, such as land use, vegetation monitoring, high-accuracy Global Positioning System (GPS) observations, 1 arc second global DEMs available (AW3D30 v2.2, ASTER GDEM v3, Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) v3.1, NASADEM, and X-band SRTM), and TanDEM-X 90m DEM
The high-resolution TanDEM-X DEMs are generated from the Coregistered Single look Slant range Complex (CoSSC) scenes with two rounds of iteration method in the mountainous and coastal area of China
We find that the robust metrics e.g. normalized median (NMAD) and LE90 are more resistant to the presence of outliers
Summary
Ments (TanDEM-X) mission is designed to generate three-dimensional images of the Earth as the first bistatic synthetic aperture radar (SAR). TanDEM-X DEM-based InSAR deformation uncertainty simulation indicates a low or even negligible topographic error contribution of 2-4mm in mountainous areas and less than 1mm in coastal areas It indicates that the TanDEM-X DEM perfreely available global DEMs with spatial resolution of up to 1 arc second have played a crucial role in terms of alternative topographic sources. Lee and Ryu [28] generated intertidal zone TanDEM-X DEMs on the west coast of Korean Peninsula with 5-7m spatial resolutions and validated them against GPS RTK measurements with a RMSE of 0.20 m Both Zhang, Gann, Ross, Robertson, Sarmiento, Santana, Rhome and Fritz [29] and González-Moradas and Viveen [6] reported an almost identical vertical accuracy (RMSE=1.7m) for 12m TanDEM-X DEM in the two different areas, that is Caribbean and Peruvian Andes respectively. We simulate the topographic error contribution to Sentinel-1 InSAR deformation uncertainty
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