NASA, Japan Release Most Complete Topographic Map of Earth

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http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Alan Buis 818-354-0474
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Alan.buis@jpl.nasa.gov

Steve Cole 202-358-0918
NASA Headquarters, Washington
Stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov

NEWS RELEASE: 2009-103 June 29, 2009

NASA, Japan Release Most Complete Topographic Map of Earth

PASADENA, Calif. – NASA and Japan released a new digital topographic map of Earth Monday
that covers more of our planet than ever before. The map was produced with detailed measurements
from NASA's Terra spacecraft.

The new global digital elevation model of Earth was created from nearly 1.3 million individual stereo-
pair images collected by the Japanese Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection
Radiometer, or Aster, instrument aboard Terra. NASA and Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and
Industry, known as METI, developed the data set. It is available online to users everywhere at no
cost.

"This is the most complete, consistent global digital elevation data yet made available to the world,"
said Woody Turner, Aster program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "This unique
global set of data will serve users and researchers from a wide array of disciplines that need elevation
and terrain information."

According to Mike Abrams, Aster science team leader at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Pasadena, Calif., the new topographic information will be of value throughout the Earth sciences and
has many practical applications. "Aster's accurate topographic data will be used for engineering,
energy exploration, conserving natural resources, environmental management, public works design,
firefighting, recreation, geology and city planning, to name just a few areas," Abrams said.

Previously, the most complete topographic set of data publicly available was from NASA's Shuttle
Radar Topography Mission. That mission mapped 80 percent of Earth's landmass, between 60 degrees
north latitude and 57 degrees south. The new Aster data expand coverage to 99 percent, from 83
degrees north latitude and 83 degrees south. Each elevation measurement point in the new data is 30
meters (98 feet) apart.

"The Aster data fill in many of the voids in the shuttle mission's data, such as in very steep terrains
and in some deserts," said Michael Kobrick, Shuttle Radar Topography Mission project scientist at
JPL. "NASA is working to combine the Aster data with that of the Shuttle Radar Topography
Mission and other sources to produce an even better global topographic map."

NASA and METI are jointly contributing the Aster topographic data to the Group on Earth
Observations, an international partnership headquartered at the World Meteorological Organization in
Geneva, Switzerland, for use in its Global Earth Observation System of Systems. This "system of
systems" is a collaborative, international effort to share and integrate Earth observation data from
many different instruments and systems to help monitor and forecast global environmental changes.

NASA, METI and the U.S. Geological Survey validated the data, with support from the U.S.
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and other collaborators. The data will be distributed by
NASA's Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center at the U.S. Geological Survey's Earth
Resources Observation and Science Data Center in Sioux Falls, S.D., and by METI's Earth Remote
Sensing Data Analysis Center in Tokyo.

Aster is one of five Earth-observing instruments launched on Terra in December 1999. Aster acquires
images from the visible to the thermal infrared wavelength region, with spatial resolutions ranging
from about 15 to 90 meters (50 to 300 feet). A joint science team from the U.S. and Japan validates
and calibrates the instrument and data products. The U.S. science team is located at JPL.

For visualizations of the new Aster topographic data, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/20090629.html .

Data users can download the Aster global digital elevation model at:
https://wist.echo.nasa.gov/~wist/api/imswelcome and http://www.gdem.aster.ersdac.or.jp .

For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov .

JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

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