The Modified Copernicus Digital Elevation Model used by the NISAR Mission is a tiled collection of Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFF (COG) files representing the DEM used for processing NISAR products. The DEM used for NISAR product generation is derived from the Copernicus DEM 30-m COP-DEM_GLO-30-DGED/2023_1. Elevation values are re-referenced vertically from the EGM2008 geoid model to the WGS84 ellipsoid model, and areas over the ocean are filled. This results in a DEM suitable for use in SAR processing workflows, with complete global coverage. This dataset allows SAR scientists to generate their own higher-level products from NISAR data using the same input DEM as the mission-generated products.

This dataset is not generated from NISAR-acquired data. It is modified from an existing DEM, and used in NISAR data processing workflows.

The DEM is provided in three different projections:

WGS84 (EPSG 4326)
North Polar Stereographic (EPSG 3413)
South Polar Stereographic (EPSG 3031)

The DEM dataset in the WGS84 projection provides global coverage, while the DEM datasets in polar projections are only available for regions beyond 60 degrees north or south.

Users, including those who redistribute, adapt, modify, or combine Copernicus DEM for NISAR data, must comply with the terms of the Copernicus DEM 30m License Agreement.