It doesn't have to be a super accurate elevation value, and it is only a single (hopefully representative) elevation value for the area.
Do you have any colleagues that have collected GPS data in the area, or derived or ordered digital elevation images of the area? That may be a good source of elevation information. If there is a city in the scene, then the elevation of that city has probably been measured and published somewhere on the internet. If it is not a terribly remote area, then you may be able to find other internet resources that publish the elevation. Otherwise, you could look at one of the global elevation datasets that are available to the public. For example, there is the SRTM data (
http://eros.usgs.gov/#/Fi...ata_Available/SRTM), or the GTOPO30 data (
http://eros.usgs.gov/#/Fi...lable/gtopo30_info). Those should be able to give you a ballpark sense for the elevation in your study area.
- Peg