Big Questions for SRTM

The goal of SRTM, a joint project of NASA, NIMA, and the German and Italian space agencies, is to map the world in three dimensions. In its 11-day mission on STS-99 in February 2000, SRTM collected an unprecedented 8.6 Terabytes of interferometric C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data (equivalent to about 14,317 CDs). This would be the most accurate and complete topographic map of Earth's surface that has ever been assembled.

How is the global earth system changing?

Earth is currently in a period of warming. Over the last century, Earth's average temperature rose about 1.1°F (0.6°C). In the last two decades, the rate of our world's warming accelerated and scientists predict that the globe will continue to warm over the course of the 21st century. Is this warming trend a reason for concern? After all, our world has witnessed extreme warm periods before, such as during the time of the dinosaurs. Earth has also seen numerous ice ages on roughly 11,000-year cycles for at least the last million years. So, change is perhaps the only constant in Earth's 4.5-billion-year history.