How can the TanDEM-X Digital Eleveation Model Support Terrestrial Impact Crater Studies?

Kurzfassung

Between December 2010 and early 2015 the German Aerospace Center (DLR) operated the X-band radar satellites TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X in close formation as a single-pass SAR interferometer. Data from Earth’s entire land surface acquired in bistatic mode permitted generation of a global high quality digital elevation model (DEM). Its accuracy, both in resolution and height, exceeds similar existing datasets from spaceborne mission. Because of its excellent quality and global coverage, the TanDEM-X DEM will be a very useful data source in support of impact crater studies. We report on the status of the TanDEM-X DEM generation and present results for about 90 impact structures, covering the entire spectrum of crater types, i.e. from small and simple to large, complex and eroded.