PE&RS March 2006

The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), flown aboard Space Shuttle,
Endeavour in February 2000, acquired elevation measurements for nearly all of Earth’s landmass between 60°N and 56°S latitudes. SRTM data were used to generate this view of the Crater Highlands along the East African Rift in Tanzania. Landforms are depicted with colored height and shaded relief, using a vertical exaggeration of 2X and a southwestwardly look direction.

Lake Eyasi is depicted in blue at the top of the image, and a smaller lake occurs in Ngorongoro Crater. Near the image center, elevations peak at 3648 meters at Mount Loolmalasin, about 2800 meters above the adjacent rift valley. The view continues forward to Mount Longido and the Meto Hills.

Tectonics, volcanism, landslides, erosion and deposition - and their interactions - are all very evident in this view. For many areas of the world SRTM data provide the fi rst detailed three-dimensional observation of landforms at regional scales.

SRTM data are available from the United States Geological Survey at http://edc.usgs.gov/products/elevation.html.

Additional information about the SRTM project is available at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/.

This image and an extended caption are available at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06669.
Image by Robert Crippen, NASA/JPL.

Foreword

Highlight Article

206 On the Toes of Giants — How SRTM was Born (Adobe PDF 1.65Mb)
Michael Kobrick

213 Filling SRTM Voids: The Delta Surface Fill Method (Adobe PDF 1.5Mb)
Greg Grohman, George Kroenung, and John Strebeck

Columns & Updates
217 Grids and Datums — Department of Guiana (Adobe PDF 122Kb)
219 Headquarters News — ASPRS Proposed Bylaws Changes, Professor Gordon Petrie Receives 2006 ASPRS Photogrammetric Award (Fairchild), Robert H. Brock, Jr. and Roy R. Mullen Selected as ASPRS Honorary Members, The Robert N. Colwell Memorial Fellowship Award (Adobe PDF 168Kb)
225 Industry News

Announcements
210 PE&RS Special Issue Call for Papers — Web and Wireless GIS
286 PE&RS Special Issue Call for Papers — Remote Sensing Data Fusion

Departments
212 New Member List
219 Region of the Month
220 ASPRS Member Champions (Adobe PDF 98Kb)
221 Certification List
228 Who’s Who in ASPRS
229 Sustaining Member Listing
231 Instructions to Authors
236 Forthcoming Articles
248 Calendar
328 Classifieds
329 Bookstore
330 Professional Directory
331 Advertiser Index
332 Membership Application

Peer-Reviewed Articles (Click the linked titles to see the full abstract)

237 The SRTM Data Finishing Process and Products
James A. Slater, Graham Garvey, Carolyn Johnston, Jeffrey Haase, Barry Heady, George Kroenung, and James Little

Data editing requirements, procedures and assessments carried out by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to produce fi nished SRTM DTED® and related products disseminated to the U.S. Government and the public at large.

249 A Global Assessment of the SRTM Performance
Ernesto Rodríguez, Charles S. Morris, and J. Eric Belz

A detailed description documenting the results of SRTM validation for absolute geolocation error, absolute height error, and relative height error.

261 How Complementary are SRTM-X and -C Band Digital Elevation Models?
Jörn Hoffmann and Diana Walter

Validation of SRTM data products and assessment of possible improvements by their combination.

269 Geomorphometry from SRTM: Comparison to NED
Peter L. Guth

Calculated terrain parameters computed from the SRTM mission generally correlate with those computed from the National Elevation Data Set, but systematic differences refl ect the collection methods and true resolution of the data.

279 Validation of SRTM Elevations Over Vegetated and Non-vegetated Terrain Using Medium-Footprint Lidar
Michelle Hofton, Ralph Dubayah, J Bryan Blair, and David Rabine

An evaluation of SRTM C-band DEMs in various terrain by comparison with coincident ground and canopy top elevation data obtained from the Laser Vegetation Imaging Scanner.

287 SRTM C-band and ICESat Laser Altimetry Elevation Comparisons as a Function of Tree Cover and Relief
Claudia C. Carabajal and David J. Harding

Validation of SRTM C-band DEMs Using Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) data.

299 Mapping Height and Biomass of Mangrove Forests in the Everglades National Park with SRTM Elevation Data
Marc Simard, Keqi Zhang, Victor H. Rivera-Monroy, Michael S. Ross, Pablo L. Ruiz, Edward Castañeda-Moya, Robert R. Twilley , and Ernesto Rodriguez

Production of a landscape scale map of mean tree height using SRTM data, and deriving height and biomass relationships based on field data.

313 Capability of SRTM C and X Band DEM Data to Measure Water Elevations in Ohio and the Amazon
Brian Kiel, Doug Alsdorf, and Gina LeFavour

Analyzing SRTM water surface elevation data to assess the capacity of interferometric radar for future water surface missions.

321 Detection of Ancient Settlement Mounds – Archaeological Survey Based on the SRTM Terrain Model
B.H. Menze, J.A. Ur, and A.G. Sherratt

SRTM models provide an opportunity to scan areas not yet surveyed archaeologically on a supra-regional scale.