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Full catalog/NISAR_DEM
NISAR_DEM·v1·dataset

Elevation of the land surface (NISAR, from Copernicus)

Modified Copernicus Digital Elevation Models used by the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) Mission
land NASA ASF Level 3 active GeoTIFFXML
In plain English

What it measures. The elevation of land across the globe, basically a height map of Earth's surface at 30-meter spacing, with complete worldwide coverage including ocean areas filled in.

How it's made. Adapted by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory from the European Copernicus elevation model, adjusting its height reference and gap-filling missing areas, then organized for fast access to support the upcoming NISAR mission.

How & where you'd use it. A foundational terrain reference used in producing radar products for the NASA-ISRO NISAR mission, and usable as a general global elevation base layer.

What's measured

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

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2024-10-30 → ongoing
  • Measured byDEM
  • Processing levelLevel 3
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • FormatsGeoTIFF, XML
  • StatusACTIVE

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

Collection of modified Copernicus Digital Elevation Models created by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and used for creation of products from the NISAR mission. The vertical reference level of all Copernicus DEM tiles was updated from the EGM2008 geoid to the WGS84 ellipsoid. Non-existing Copernicus DEM 30-m tiles (e.g., over ocean) were filled with the EGM2008 geoid model, resulting in a DEM with complete global coverage. A hierarchical VRT (Virtual Raster) structure was created to enable fast and unified access to the entire DEM. The top-level file, EPSG4326.vrt, points to a second tier of VRTs organized by latitude bands. These, in turn, reference a third level of VRT files that map to the individual GeoTIFF DEM tiles. This digital elevation model (DEM) was prepared at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, using the Copernicus DEM 30-m COP-DEM_GLO-30-DGED/2023_1 model, provided by the European Space Agency (ESA). The Copernicus DEM 30-m was produced using Copernicus WorldDEM-30 © DLR e.V. 2010-2014 and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH 2014-2018 provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA; all rights reserved. The organizations in charge of the NISAR mission or the Copernicus programme by law or by delegation do not incur any liability for any use of the Copernicus WorldDEM-30. Users, including those who redistribute, adapt, modify, or combine the data contained in this DEM, must comply with the terms of the Copernicus DEM 30-m License Agreement.

Get the data

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

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="NISAR_DEM",
    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 ASF
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.