2026-10-29T05:45:50Zhttp://nsidc.org/api/dataset/metadata/oaioai:nsidc.org/GLA06.0182026-04-16T19:16:34Zcumulusretirednasa_nsidc_daac
GLA06.018GLAS/ICESat L1B Global Elevation DataHancock, D., Zwally, H. J., Schutz, R., Bentley, C., Bufton, J., Herring, T., Minster, J., Spinhirne, J. & Thomas, R.GLAS/ICESat L1B Global Elevation Data2003-01-01Boulder, Colorado USANASA NSIDC DAAC: NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center18false10.5067/PMQ16109SD2Dhttps://doi.org/10.5067/PMQ16109SD2DGLA06Technical ContactNSIDCUser Servicesnsidc@nsidc.org1-303-492-61991-303-492-2468CIRES, 449 UCBUniversity of ColoradoBoulderCO80309-0449USATechnical ContactDavidHancockDavid.W.Hancock@nasa.govISIPS ManagerNASA Goddard Space Flight CenterWallops Flight FacilityWallops Island, VAUSAEARTH SCIENCETERRESTRIAL HYDROSPHEREGLACIERS/ICE SHEETSGLACIER ELEVATION/ICE SHEET ELEVATION EARTH SCIENCECRYOSPHEREGLACIERS/ICE SHEETSGLACIER ELEVATION/ICE SHEET ELEVATION EARTH SCIENCECRYOSPHERESEA ICEICE ROUGHNESS EARTH SCIENCECRYOSPHEREGLACIERS/ICE SHEETSICE SHEETS EARTH SCIENCECRYOSPHERESEA ICEREFLECTANCE EARTH SCIENCEOCEANSSEA SURFACE TOPOGRAPHYSEA SURFACE HEIGHT EARTH SCIENCEOCEANSSEA SURFACE TOPOGRAPHYSEA SURFACE SLOPE EARTH SCIENCELAND SURFACETOPOGRAPHYSURFACE ROUGHNESS EARTH SCIENCELAND SURFACETOPOGRAPHYTERRAIN ELEVATION AltimetryAtmospheric Delay CorrectionBackscatterDAACDemEOSDISGLA06GLASGlobal Positioning SystemGPSICESatISIPSLaser FootprintLaser PulseLidarNASANoise LevelNSIDCOff-nadir Pointing DirectionOrbit NumberPrecision Attitude DeterminationPrecision Orbit DeterminationRangeReceived EnergyReceived Pulse GainSignal SaturationTransmitted EnergyTransmitted GainWaveformWaveform KurtosisWaveform SkewnessALTIMETERSALTIMETERSGLASGeoscience Laser Altimeter SystemICESatIce, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite2003-01-132010-01-13deprecated-8686-180180GEOGRAPHIC REGIONGLOBALBrowse products in PNG graphic format contain quality information; these are available along with corresponding data granules in the Data Pool or EOS Data Gateway.
The i_FrameQF quality flag is set to '1' if there is a problem in calculating individual parameters, or the flag is set to '0' if there are no problems.These data have been retired and are no longer accessible, though a more recent version of these data may be available.These data have been retired and are no longer available for use, though a more recent version of these data may be available. Cite any prior or planned use of these data according to the recommended citation at https://nsidc.org/about/data-use-and-copyright. For more information on the NASA ESDIS Data Use Guidance, see https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/engage/open-data-services-software-policies/data-use-guidance.EnglishNASA/GSFC/EOS/EONASA NSIDC DAACNASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Centerhttps://nsidc.org/daacData Center ContactNSIDCUser Servicesnsidc@nsidc.org1-303-492-6199National Snow and Ice Data CenterCIRES, 449 UCBUniversity of ColoradoBoulderCO80309-0449USAFTP7 MBBinaryBae, S. and B.E. Schutz. 2002. Precision attitude determination (PAD). GLAS algorithm theoretical basis document. Version 2.2. Austin, TX: Center for Space Research, University of Texas at Austin.
Brenner, A.C., C.R. Bentley, B.M. Csatho, D.J. Harding, M.A. Hofton, J. Minster, L. Roberts, J.L. Saba, R. Schutz, R.H. Thomas, D. Yi, and H.J. Zwally. 2000. Derivation of range and range distributions from laser pulse waveform analysis for surface elevations, roughness, slope, and vegetation heights. Algorithm theoretical basis document. Version 3.0. Greenbelt, MD: Goddard Space Flight Center.
Center for Space Research. 'ICESat/GLAS.' January 2002.
http://www.csr.utexas.edu/glas/.
Davis C.H. and H.J. Zwally. 1993. Geographic and seasonal variations in the surface properties of the ice sheets by satellite radar altimetry. Journal of Glaciology 39:687-697.
Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). 1996. EOS Ground System (EGS) Systems and Operations Concept. Greenbelt, MD: Goddard Space Flight Center.
Farrell, W.E. 1972. Deformation of the Earth by surface loads. Review of Geophysics and Space Physics 10: 761-797.
GLAS Science Team. 2000. Mission Operations Requirement Document (MORD) for the Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) Mission. Greenbelt, MD: Goddard Space Flight Center.
GLAS Science Team. 1997. GLAS Science Requirements. Version 2.01. Greenbelt, MD: Goddard Space Flight Center.
Heroux, D. 2000. Progress report on GLAS interface effort with ECS NOSE. Rev. 29 December 2000. Landover, MD: Emergent-IT/Raytheon.
Herring, T.A. and K. Quinn. 1999. Atmospheric delay correction to GLAS laser altimeter ranges. GLAS algorithm theoretical basis document. Version 1.0. Lanham, MD: Science Systems and Applications, Inc.
Jester, P., and D. Hancock. 2002. The Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document for Level 1A Processing, Version 1.2. Wallops Island, VA: Raytheon ITSS.
Jester, P., and J. Lee. 2002. GLAS standard data products specification - level 1. Version 6.0. Wallops Island, VA: Raytheon ITSS.
Lee, J. 2002. GSAS user's guide: Version 4.0. Wallops Island, VA: Raytheon ITSS.
McGarry, J.F., J. Abshire, X. Sun, J. Saba, A. Brenner, and D. Yi. 2002. GLAS flight science data selection algorithms for the altimeter (1064 nm), Version 4.15. Unpublished report.
Rim, H., and B. Schutz. 2002. Precision orbit determination. GLAS algorithm theoretical basis document. Version 2.2. Austin, TX: Center for Space Research, University of Texas at Austin.
Schutz, B. 2000. GLAS altimeter post-launch calibration/validation plan. Version 0.99. Austin, TX: Center for Space Research, University of Texas at Austin.
Schutz, B. 2002. Laser footprint location (geolocation) and surface profiles. GLAS algorithm theoretical basis document. Version 3.0. Austin, TX: Center for Space Research, University of Texas at Austin.
Wahr, J., D. Wingham, and C. Bentley. 2000. A method of combining ICESat and GRACE satellite data to constrain Antarctic mass balance. Journal of Geophysical Research 105(B7):16,279-16,294.
Yi, D., J. Minster, and C. Bentley. 1999. Ocean tidal loading corrections. GLAS algorithm theoretical basis document. Version 1.0. Greenbelt, MD: Goddard Space Flight Center.
Zwally, H.J., B. Schutz, W. Abdalati, J. Abshire, C. Bentley, A. Brenner, J. Bufton, J. Dezio, D. Hancock, D. Harding, T. Herring, B. Minster, K. Quinn, S. Palm, J. Spinhirne, and R. Thomas. 2002. ICESAT's laser measurements of polar ice, atmosphere, ocean, and land. Journal of Geodynamics 34: 405-445.
Zwally, H.J., B. Schutz, D. Hancock, and A. Brenner. 2000. ICESat/GLAS Standard Data Products in HDF and SCF Formats. Version 1.2. Greenbelt, MD: Goddard Space Flight Center.
Zwally, H.J., R.A. Bindschadler, A.C. Brenner, T.V. Martin, and R.H. Thomas. 1983. Surface elevation contours of Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. Journal of Geophysical Research 88(C3):1589-1596.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-1B elevation data (GLA06) include surface elevation, surface roughness assuming no slope, surface slope assuming no roughness, and geodetic and atmospheric corrections for range measurements. GLA06 is used in conjunction with GLA05 to create the Level-2 altimetry products (GLA12-15)
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.VIEW RELATED INFORMATIONhttps://doi.org/10.5067/PMQ16109SD2DUser's GuidePROJECT HOME PAGEhttp://glas.wff.nasa.gov/ICESat/GLAS web site at NASA Wallops Flight FacilityPROJECT HOME PAGEhttp://icesat.gsfc.nasa.govOfficial ICESat web sitePROJECT HOME PAGEhttp://nsidc.org/daac/icesat/ICESat/GLAS web site at NSIDCPROJECT HOME PAGEhttp://icesat.gsfc.nasa.gov/ICESat/GLAS web site at NASA Goddard Space Flight CenterPROJECT HOME PAGEhttp://www.csr.utexas.edu/glas/ICESat/GLAS web site at University of TexasPROJECT HOME PAGEhttp://nsidc.org/data/icesat/index.htmlICESat/GLAS Data at NSIDCVIEW RELATED INFORMATIONhttp://nsidc.org/data/dems/index.htmlPolar Ice Sheet DEMs and Elevation DataUSA/NASACEOS IDN DIFVERSION 9.92003-01-012026-04-16NSIDCVersion SummaryNSIDCMinor VersionNSIDCLevel of ServiceNo Data AccessNSIDCFull Dataset CitationHancock, D., Zwally, H. J., Schutz, R., Bentley, C., Bufton, J., Herring, T., Minster, J., Spinhirne, J. & Thomas, R. (2003). <i>GLAS/ICESat L1B Global Elevation Data</i>. (GLA06, Version 18). [Data Set]. Boulder, Colorado USA. NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center. <a href="https://doi.org/10.5067/PMQ16109SD2D">https://doi.org/10.5067/PMQ16109SD2D</a>. [<i><describe subset used if applicable></i>].NSIDCRetiredtrue