ArcticDTM estimated from ArcticDEM at three study sites in Livengood, Alaska, 2011-2013

The dataset includes the ArcticDTMs estimated from a high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) product, namely ArcticDEM, at three study sites in Livengood, Alaska. As it is generated from stereo-pairs of optical satellite imagery, ArcticDEM represents a mixture of digital surface model (DSM) over non-ground areas and digital terrain model (DTM) at bare grounds. Reconstructing DTM from ArcticDEM is essential in studies requiring bare ground elevation such as modeling hydrological processes, tracking surface change dynamics, and estimating vegetation canopy height and associated forest attributes. The proposed ArcticDTM generation method includes two steps: 1) identifying ground pixels from WorldView-2 imagery using Gaussian mixture model (GMM) with local refinement by morphological operation, and 2) generating continuous DTM surface using ArcticDEMs at ground locations and natural neighbor (NN) interpolation. In addition to the estimated ArcticDTM, the original ArcticDEM products including its source WorldView-2 multispectral imagery, and the reference lidar-derived digital terrain model (DTM) used for ArcticDTM evaluation are also attached. This dataset can be used as a benchmark dataset for examining the efficiency of optical stereoscopy-based DTM generation approaches. Paper citation: Zhang, T.; Liu, D. Reconstructing Digital Terrain Models from ArcticDEM and WorldView-2 Imagery in Livengood, Alaska. Remote Sens. 2023, 15, 2061. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15082061