{"id":1833902,"date":"2024-09-04T20:16:50","date_gmt":"2024-09-05T00:16:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1833902"},"modified":"2024-09-04T20:16:53","modified_gmt":"2024-09-05T00:16:53","slug":"a-look-back-at-the-srtm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2024\/09\/a-look-back-at-the-srtm\/","title":{"rendered":"A Look Back at the SRTM"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last month NASA Earth Observatory ran a two-part series about the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission<\/a>, which produced a high-resolution digital elevation model of the Earth based on radar<\/a> data collected by the shuttle Endeavour<\/em> in 2000. The first part<\/a> looks at how Endeavour<\/em> gathered the data, the second part<\/a> at how it\u2019s been used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Nearly a quarter century after the mission to map the world, the SRTM\u2019s data still yields results. Just this year, it aided in\u00a0wildfire forecasting\u00a0for Iran\u2019s Zagros Mountains, tracking\u00a0soil erosion in South Africa, assessing\u00a0flood risk on the coast of Brazil, and even determining how the locations of power-generating wind turbines\u00a0affect real estate values. Tens of thousands of research papers are published every year that rely on SRTM maps for these and other environmental, economic, agricultural, and public safety studies.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last month NASA Earth Observatory ran a two-part series about the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, which produced a high-resolution digital elevation model of the Earth based on radar data collected by the shuttle Endeavour in… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[493,15,1690],"class_list":["post-1833902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-surveying","tag-dem","tag-satellite","tag-srtm","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1844992,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/09\/first-radar-images-from-nisar\/","url_meta":{"origin":1833902,"position":0},"title":"First Radar Images from NISAR","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"27 September 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"Imagery of Maine\u2019s Mount Desert Island captured by NISAR\u2019s L-band radar on 21 Aug 2025. NASA\/JPL-Caltech. Preliminary images are in from the newly launched NISAR Earth-observing radar satellite. A joint mission between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), NISAR will use L-band and S-band synthetic aperture radar to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Agriculture"","block_context":{"text":"Agriculture","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/agriculture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/nisar-maine.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/nisar-maine.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/nisar-maine.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/nisar-maine.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/nisar-maine.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/nisar-maine.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2867,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/09\/high-resolution-elevation-data-released-for-alaska\/","url_meta":{"origin":1833902,"position":1},"title":"High-Resolution Elevation Data Released for Alaska","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"16 September 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"A new digital elevation model of Alaska was released earlier this month.\u00a0The result of a presidential directive to improve elevation maps of Alaska as a tool \"to help to help communities understand and manage\" the risks of climate change, the ArcticDEM project is a collaboration between the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Weather and Climate"","block_context":{"text":"Weather and Climate","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/weather-and-climate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The White House","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/arctic-dem-1024x571.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/arctic-dem-1024x571.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/arctic-dem-1024x571.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/arctic-dem-1024x571.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1789103,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/08\/nasa-maps-the-damage-from-the-beirut-explosion\/","url_meta":{"origin":1833902,"position":2},"title":"NASA Maps the Damage from the Beirut Explosion","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"7 August 2020","format":"image","excerpt":"NASA has released a map of the likely extent of damage from Tuesday\u2019s explosion in Beirut. Synthetic aperture radar data from space shows ground surface changes from before and after a major event like an earthquake. In this case, it is being used to show the devastating result of an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disasters"","block_context":{"text":"Disasters","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/disasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/nasa-beirut-explosion-1024x865.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/nasa-beirut-explosion-1024x865.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/nasa-beirut-explosion-1024x865.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/nasa-beirut-explosion-1024x865.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1788241,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/01\/ten-year-timelapse-of-u-s-weather-radar\/","url_meta":{"origin":1833902,"position":3},"title":"Ten-Year Timelapse of U.S. Weather Radar","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"24 January 2020","format":"video","excerpt":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=VCdb9_VhIvU This timelapse video showing 10 years of weather radar over the course of two hours is built from NEXRAD mosaic data at the Iowa Environmental Mesonet site. To be honest they could have gone even further back: the archived data for the U.S. goes back as far as 1995.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Weather and Climate"","block_context":{"text":"Weather and Climate","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/weather-and-climate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/VCdb9_VhIvU\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":927906,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/12\/early-radar-maps-of-antarctica-digitized\/","url_meta":{"origin":1833902,"position":4},"title":"Early Radar Maps of Antarctica Digitized","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"29 December 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"Nature: \"Glaciologists will soon have a treasure trove of data for exploring how Antarctica\u2019s underbelly\u00a0has changed over nearly half a century. An international team of researchers has scanned and digitized 2 million records from pioneering aeroplane radar expeditions that criss-crossed the frozen continent in the 1960s and 1970s. [...]\u00a0The digitized\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Surveying"","block_context":{"text":"Surveying","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/surveying\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2043,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/05\/new-orleans-is-sinking\/","url_meta":{"origin":1833902,"position":5},"title":"New Orleans Is Sinking","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"18 May 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"\"New Orleans and surrounding areas continue to sink at highly variable rates due to a combination of natural geologic and human-induced processes,\" according to the findings of\u00a0a new study\u00a0that\u00a0maps the rate at which New Orleans is sinking. The maps were created using data from NASA\u2019s Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Geology"","block_context":{"text":"Geology","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/geology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"new-orleans-subsidence","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/new-orleans-subsidence-1024x756.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/new-orleans-subsidence-1024x756.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/new-orleans-subsidence-1024x756.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/new-orleans-subsidence-1024x756.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1833902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1833902"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1833902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1833906,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1833902\/revisions\/1833906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1833902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1833902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1833902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}