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Full catalog/HMA_DEM8m_CT
HMA_DEM8m_CT·v1·dataset

8-meter elevation maps of High Mountain Asia terrain

High Mountain Asia 8-meter DEMs Derived from Cross-track Optical Imagery V001
land NASA NSIDC_CPRD Level 4 PNGGeoTIFF
In plain English

What it measures. Highly detailed elevation maps, at 8-meter resolution, of the glacier and snow regions of High Mountain Asia, showing the shape and height of the terrain.

How it's made. Built from very-high-resolution commercial stereo satellite photos taken by the GeoEye and WorldView satellites and stitched into elevation mosaics.

How & where you'd use it. Valuable for studying mountain glaciers, snow, and terrain change in one of the world's most rugged and climate-sensitive regions.

What's measured

LAND SURFACE › TOPOGRAPHY › TERRAIN ELEVATION › DIGITAL ELEVATION/TERRAIN MODEL (DEM)

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2002-01-28 → 2016-11-24
  • Measured byGEOEYE-1 (CAMERAS) · QUICKBIRD-2 (QUICKBIRD/BHRC-60) · WORLDVIEW-1 (CAMERAS) · WORLDVIEW-2 (CAMERAS) · WORLDVIEW-3 (CAMERAS)
  • Processing levelLevel 4
  • Spatial extent67, 26, 103, 46
  • FormatsPNG, GeoTIFF
  • StatusCOMPLETE

What you can do with it

  • Track deforestation, fire scars and land-cover change
  • Monitor crop and vegetation health (NDVI/EVI)
  • Map how built-up vs. green an area is over time
Official description

This data set contains 8-meter Digital Elevation Model (DEM) mosaics of high mountain Asia glacier and snow regions generated from from very-high-resolution commercial stereo satellite imagery.

Get the data

hma_dem8m_ct_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="HMA_DEM8m_CT",
    version="1",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from NSIDC_CPRD
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.