Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission And Reflection Radiometer Global Digital Elevation Model Research Articles

Global Assessment of the New ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model

In 2009, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry released a new global digital elevation model (GDEM) derived from reprocessed Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) data from the Terra satellite. An initial, empirical assessment of the accuracy and characteristics of the GDEM was carried out using a globally-distributed sample dataset. Statistical and visual analyses of the GDEM, using known reference DEMs and ground control points (GCPs) for comparison, revealed a systematic bias in the ASTER GDEM elevations, higher average noise levels, and a lower effective ground resolution compared to the reference data, as well as numerous topo-graphic artifacts and anomalies. The GDEM appears to meet its accuracy specifications when compared to the reference DEMs, but compared to the GCPs, some of the areas are questionable. In areas that lack good quality terrain data, the GDEM may prove useful, but must be used with care.

Validation of ASTER GDEM for the Area of Greece

The ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) Global Digital Elevation Model (GDEM), which was released in June 2009, provides elevation data for over 99 percent of Earth's land area. GDEM was found to contain significant anomalies mainly caused by residual clouds in the ASTER scenes, or by the algorithm used to generate the final GDEM from the variable number of individual DEMs. In this paper, the GDEM, for the whole area of Greece was validated by comparing it with reference DEMs with higher resolution derived either from aerial stereo imagery, or from ASTER raw data analysis; as well as with elevation values provided by a number of Geodetic Control Points (GCP) and GPS measurements. The vertical accuracy (at 95 percent confidence) was calculated to be more than 30 m (RMSE = 16.01 m) when compared to the GCPs, whereas the vertical accuracy was calculated around 20 m (RMSE = 11.08 m) when compared with the GPS derived elevations. It can be therefore stated that the current version of ASTER GDEM overall does not meet its pre-production estimated vertical accuracy of 20 m at 95 percent confidence over Greece, however, it can be used in several applications, such as topographic analysis, hydrological and geomorphological modeling, landscape visualization, and energy balance studies.