STV Precursor Coincident Datasets

Over the past two decades, large archives of 3D surface elevation measurements have been acquired from a range of airborne and satellite platforms. Many of these datasets are now publicly available from NASA Earthdata Cloud and commercial cloud storage, enabling efficient, on-demand search, subsetting, and data access.

Many "coincident" or near-contemporaneous measurements in these archives were fortuitously acquired over the same location within a short temporal window (e.g., <1-14 days). These archives remain largely untapped for a broader, systematic identification and analysis of spatiotemporally coincident 3D measurements.

We are developing efficient, open-source tools to identify, curate, process and distribute coincident 3D datasets contained within these archives across a range of representative terrain and landcover types. These datasets can be used by the larger STV community for calibration/validation, fusion algorithm development, and discipline-specific scientific analysis.

Download the STV Precursor Coincident Datasets White Paper
Three maps of the United States, each on a x and y axis corresponding to the latitude and longitude. The maps are color coded according to STV data sets including ICESat-2, Maxar In-Track Stereo, and 3DEP Airborne LiDAR
Preliminary evaluation of archive coverage for CONUS as of December 2023, with polygon color representing acquisition date. Left) 3DEP airborne lidar data (1-m DTM), center) Maxar in-track very-high-resolution (VHR) stereo pairs from Worldview-1/2/3 (30-50 cm GSD) with cloud cover < 25%, and right) ICESat-2 tracks.
Map view of the United states with numerous rectangular blocks of varying colors. The color of the blocks correspond to a gradient bar on the right colored from yellow to purple. Yellow corresponds to 2023 data and 2019 is the deepest shade of purple.
Map showing preliminary subset of coincident datasets for CONUS, identified using 3DEP airborne lidar collections with short acquisition periods (<60 days) and a +/-14 day window for cloud-free WorldView in-track stereo images, ICESat-2, and GEDI acquisitions. There are 86 total sites that meet these criteria