ALOS World 3D-30m (AW3D30)#

alos-dem · theme terrain · live

JAXA’s global 30 m digital surface model from ALOS PRISM optical stereo imagery (2006-2011), EGM96 geoid: version 3.2 on the Planetary Computer and OpenTopography, version 4.1 on Earth Engine. The DEM the CHILI heat-load index is derived from, and an independent surface to check the radar DEMs against. OpenTopography also serves a WGS84-ellipsoid copy (ellipsoidal=True), converted with the EGM96 geoid.

import easysnowdata as esd

aoi = (-121.94, 46.72, -121.54, 46.99)   # Mount Rainier
dem_da = esd.terrain.dem.load(aoi)

No account needed for the default route

source="planetary-computer" is open. source="gee" needs earthengine — see the credentials page.

Sources#

3 routes serve this product; the first is the default and source= picks another. The return contract is the same either way.

source

provider

credentials

resolution

extent

temporal

latency

notes

planetary-computer (default)

stac

none

30 m

global

static (acquired 2006-2011; v3.2 2021)

—

signed hrefs, anonymous; one COG per 1° tile

gee

gee

earthengine

30 m

global

static (acquired 2006-2011; v4.1 2024)

—

the newer v4.1, tiled as an ImageCollection and mosaicked here

opentopography

opentopography

none

30 m

global

static (acquired 2006-2011; v3.2 2021)

—

OpenTopography’s static STAC catalog: anonymous COGs on SDSC storage, no search API, tiles picked by their bbox; v3.2, one COG per 1° tile; ellipsoidal=True reads the WGS84-ellipsoid copy AW3D30_E

Where each route points#

planetary-computer — Planetary Computer live

alos-dem

gee — Earth Engine (v4.1) live

JAXA/ALOS/AW3D30/V4_1

opentopography — OpenTopography live

https://portal.opentopography.org/stac/items/AW3D30_global.json

Variables#

variable

units

dtype

nodata

categorical

elevation

m

float32

-9999

no

Provenance#

Licence · JAXA AW3D30 terms of use (free, attribution)

DOI · 10.5069/G94M92HB

Cite the data as

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (2021). ALOS World 3D 30 meter DEM V3.2. Distributed by OpenTopography. https://doi.org/10.5069/G94M92HB

Documentation

Loader · easysnowdata.terrain.dem.load