GLAS/ICESat L1A Global Atmosphere Data

Data Contributors

ZWALLY, H. JAY
SCHUTZ, ROBERT
PALM, STEVE
HART, WILLIAM
HLAVKA, DENNIS
SPINHIRNE, JAMES
WELTON, ELLSWORTH

Parameters

SENSOR COUNTS

Instruments

ALTIMETERS
GLAS : GEOSCIENCE LASER ALTIMETER SYSTEM
LIDAR : LIGHT DETECTION AND RANGING

The Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) instrument on the Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) provides global measurements of polar ice sheet elevation to discern changes in ice volume (mass balance) over time. Secondary objectives of GLAS are to measure sea ice roughness and thickness, cloud and atmospheric properties, land topography, vegetation canopy heights, ocean surface topography, and surface reflectivity.

GLAS has a 1064 nm laser channel for surface altimetry and dense cloud heights, and a 532 nm lidar channel for the vertical distribution of clouds and aerosols.

Level-1A atmospheric data (GLA02) include the normalized relative backscatter for the 532 nm and 1064 nm channels, and low-level instrument corrections such as laser energy (1064 nm and 532 nm), photon coincidence (532 nm), and detector gain correction (1064 nm).

Each data granule has an associated browse product that users can quickly view to determine the general quality of the data in the granule. Browse products consist of image plots of key parameters and statistics. Data are in scaled integer binary format, big-endian (Unix) byte order, and are available via FTP, CD-ROM, DVD, DLT, or 8-mm tape.

Data Citation

The following example shows how to cite the use of this data set in a publication. List the principal investigators, year of data set release, data set title and version, dates of data you used, publishers (NSIDC), and digital media.

Zwally, H.J., R. Schutz, S. Palm, W. Hart, S. Hlavka, J. Spinhirne, and E. Welton. 2003, updated current year. GLAS/ICESat L1A Global Atmosphere Data V018, 15 October to 18 November 2003. Boulder, CO: National Snow and Ice Data Center. Digital media.