ATLAS/ICESat-2 L2A Global Geolocated Photon Data, Version 2
Data set id:
ATL03
DOI: 10.5067/ATLAS/ATL03.002
There is a more recent version of these data.
Version Summary
Version Summary
Changes for this version include:
- Added the equilibrium tide as a parameter (/gtx/geophys_corr/tide_eq).
- Corrected the ph_id_channel description.
- Added additional ATLAS housekeeping/status values from ATL02 to the /atlas_engineering group to fully describe the ATLAS configuration state.
- Adopted an improved inland water mask.
- Added DEM height and flag at the 20m geolocation segment rate. DEM height (/gtx/geophys_corr/dem_h) is the best available height from one of several region-specific and global DEMs. The DEM flag (/gtx/geophys_corr/dem_flag) indicates the DEM from which the height was retrieved.
- Added a composite flag for POD/PPD quality at the 20m geolocation segment rate. A non-zero value indicates a possibly degraded geolocation solution.
- Updated default uncertainties (sigma_h = 30 m; sigma_along = 20 m; sigma_across = 20 m; sigma_lat ~= 0.00018 deg; and sigma_lon = 0.00018 deg) to better represent actual uncertainties in the ATL03 photon data.
Overview
This data set (ATL03) contains height above the WGS 84 ellipsoid (ITRF2014 reference frame), latitude, longitude, and time for all photons downlinked by the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS) instrument on board the Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) observatory. The ATL03 product was designed to be a single source for all photon data and ancillary information needed by higher-level ATLAS/ICESat-2 products. As such, it also includes spacecraft and instrument parameters and ancillary data not explicitly required for ATL03.
Parameter(s):
TERRAIN ELEVATION
Platform(s):
ICESat-2
Sensor(s):
ATLAS
Data Format(s):
HDF5
Temporal Coverage:
13 October 2018 to 15 November 2019
Temporal Resolution:
- 91 day
Spatial Resolution:
- 70 cm
- 70 cm
Spatial Reference System(s):
WGS 84
EPSG:4326
Spatial Coverage:
N:
90
S:
-90
E:
180
W:
-180
Blue outlined yellow areas on the map below indicate the spatial coverage for this data set.
Data Access & Tools
This data set has been retired. There is a more recent version of these data.
Documentation
User Guide
ATBDs
General Resources
Product Specification Documents
Help Articles
General Questions & FAQs
This article covers frequently asked questions about the NASA NSIDC DAAC's Earthdata cloud migration project and what it means to data users.
This short article describes the customization services available for ICESat-2 data using Earthdata Search.
How to Articles
Many NSIDC DAAC data sets can be accessed using the NSIDC DAAC's Data Access Tool. This tool provides the ability to search and filter data with spatial and temporal constraints using a map-based interface.Users have the option to
Harmony API Quickstart Guide: Customizing NASA NSIDC DAAC data in Earthdata Cloud
To convert HDF5 files into binary format you will need to use the h5dump utility, which is part of the HDF5 distribution available from the HDF Group. How you install HDF5 depends on your operating system.
Learn the basic steps for using OpenAltimetry to browse and download ICESat-2 data products.
This guide will provide an overview of the altimetry measurements and data sets across the missions, as well as a guide for accessing the data through NASA Earthdata Search and programmatically using an Application Programming Interface (API).
The NASA Earthdata Cloud is the NASA cloud-based archive of Earth observations. It is hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS). Learn how to find and access NSIDC DAAC data directly in the cloud.
All data from the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC) is directly accessible through our HTTPS file system using Wget or curl. This article provides basic command line instructions for accessing data using this method.
This article highlights the NSIDC DAAC data sets available with customization options and outlines a workflow for searching, ordering, and customizing data in NASA Earthdata Search. This approach is ideal for users who want to download data to their local machine.
This webinar introduces the ICESat-2 mission and shows you how to explore, access and customize ICESat-2 data with the OpenAltimetry application, using NSIDC DAAC tools, and shows you how to subset, reformat and analyze the data using Python.