Validation studies of global Digital Elevation Models(DEMs)in the existing literature are limited by the diversity and spread of landscapes,terrain types considered and sparseness of groundtruth.Moreover,there are kno...Validation studies of global Digital Elevation Models(DEMs)in the existing literature are limited by the diversity and spread of landscapes,terrain types considered and sparseness of groundtruth.Moreover,there are knowledge gaps on the accuracy variations in rugged and complex landscapes,and previous studies have often not relied on robust internal and external validation measures.Thus,there is still only partial understanding and limited perspective of the reliability and adequacy of global DEMs for several applications.In this study,we utilize a dense spread of LiDAR groundtruth to assess the vertical accuracies of four medium-resolution,readily available,free-access and global coverage 1 arc-second(30 m)DEMs:NASADEM,ASTER GDEM,Copernicus GLO-30,and ALOS World 3D(AW3D).The assessment is carried out at landscapes spread across Cape Town,Southern Africa(urban/industrial,agricultural,mountain,peninsula and grassland/shrubland)and forested national parks in Gabon,Central Africa(low-relief tropical rainforest and high-relief tropical rainforest).The statistical analysis is based on robust accuracy metrics that cater for normal and non-normal elevation error distribution,and error ranking.In Cape Town,Copernicus DEM generally had the least vertical error with an overall Mean Error(ME)of 0.82 m and Root Mean Square Error(RMSE)of 2.34 m while ASTER DEM had the poorest performance.However,ASTER GDEM and NASADEM performed better in the low-relief and high-relief tropical forests of Gabon.Generally,the DEM errors have a moderate to high positive correlation in forests,and a low to moderate positive correlation in mountains and urban areas.Copernicus DEM showed superior vertical accuracy in forests with less than 40%tree cover,while ASTER and NASADEM performed better in denser forests with tree cover greater than 70%.This study is a robust regional assessment of these global DEMs.展开更多
A good understanding of the quality of digital elevation model(DEM)is a perquisite for various applications.This study investigates the accuracy of three most recently released 1-arcsec global DEMs(GDEMs,Copernicus,NA...A good understanding of the quality of digital elevation model(DEM)is a perquisite for various applications.This study investigates the accuracy of three most recently released 1-arcsec global DEMs(GDEMs,Copernicus,NASA and AW3D30)in five selected terrains of China,using more than 240,000 high-quality ICESat-2(Ice,Cloud and land Elevation Satellite)ALT08 points.The results indicate the three GDEMs have similar overall vertical accuracy,with RMSE of 6.73(Copernicus),6.59(NASA)and 6.63 m(AW3D30).While the accuracy varies considerably over study areas and among GDEMs.The results show a clear correlation between the accuracy and terrain slopes,and some relationship between the accuracy and land covers.Our analysis reveals the land cover exerts a greater impact on the accuracy than that of the terrain slope for the study area.Visual inspections of terrain representation indicate Copernicus DEM exhibits the greatest detail of terrain,followed by AW3D30,and then by NASADEM.This study has demonstrated that ICESat-2 altimetry offers an important tool for DEM assessment.The findings provide a timely and comprehensive understanding of the quality of newly released GDEMs,which are informative for the selection of suitable DEMs,and for the improvement of GDEM in future studies.展开更多
基金supported by the(i)Commonwealth Scholarship Commission and the Foreign,Commonwealth and Development Office in the UK[Grant number NGCN-2021-239](ii)University of Cape Town Postgraduate Funding Office.
文摘Validation studies of global Digital Elevation Models(DEMs)in the existing literature are limited by the diversity and spread of landscapes,terrain types considered and sparseness of groundtruth.Moreover,there are knowledge gaps on the accuracy variations in rugged and complex landscapes,and previous studies have often not relied on robust internal and external validation measures.Thus,there is still only partial understanding and limited perspective of the reliability and adequacy of global DEMs for several applications.In this study,we utilize a dense spread of LiDAR groundtruth to assess the vertical accuracies of four medium-resolution,readily available,free-access and global coverage 1 arc-second(30 m)DEMs:NASADEM,ASTER GDEM,Copernicus GLO-30,and ALOS World 3D(AW3D).The assessment is carried out at landscapes spread across Cape Town,Southern Africa(urban/industrial,agricultural,mountain,peninsula and grassland/shrubland)and forested national parks in Gabon,Central Africa(low-relief tropical rainforest and high-relief tropical rainforest).The statistical analysis is based on robust accuracy metrics that cater for normal and non-normal elevation error distribution,and error ranking.In Cape Town,Copernicus DEM generally had the least vertical error with an overall Mean Error(ME)of 0.82 m and Root Mean Square Error(RMSE)of 2.34 m while ASTER DEM had the poorest performance.However,ASTER GDEM and NASADEM performed better in the low-relief and high-relief tropical forests of Gabon.Generally,the DEM errors have a moderate to high positive correlation in forests,and a low to moderate positive correlation in mountains and urban areas.Copernicus DEM showed superior vertical accuracy in forests with less than 40%tree cover,while ASTER and NASADEM performed better in denser forests with tree cover greater than 70%.This study is a robust regional assessment of these global DEMs.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China[grant number 41201429,42171375].
文摘A good understanding of the quality of digital elevation model(DEM)is a perquisite for various applications.This study investigates the accuracy of three most recently released 1-arcsec global DEMs(GDEMs,Copernicus,NASA and AW3D30)in five selected terrains of China,using more than 240,000 high-quality ICESat-2(Ice,Cloud and land Elevation Satellite)ALT08 points.The results indicate the three GDEMs have similar overall vertical accuracy,with RMSE of 6.73(Copernicus),6.59(NASA)and 6.63 m(AW3D30).While the accuracy varies considerably over study areas and among GDEMs.The results show a clear correlation between the accuracy and terrain slopes,and some relationship between the accuracy and land covers.Our analysis reveals the land cover exerts a greater impact on the accuracy than that of the terrain slope for the study area.Visual inspections of terrain representation indicate Copernicus DEM exhibits the greatest detail of terrain,followed by AW3D30,and then by NASADEM.This study has demonstrated that ICESat-2 altimetry offers an important tool for DEM assessment.The findings provide a timely and comprehensive understanding of the quality of newly released GDEMs,which are informative for the selection of suitable DEMs,and for the improvement of GDEM in future studies.
