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Data Set ID: 
ATL08

ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3A Land and Vegetation Height, Version 3

As of 25 January 2022, this data set is retired and no longer available for download. Per our agreement with the data provider, NSIDC only archives the most recent version of each of the ICESat-2 standard products and the version that preceded it. The most recent version is available from https://nsidc.org/data/icesat-2/data-sets.

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This data set (ATL08) contains along-track heights above the WGS84 ellipsoid (ITRF2014 reference frame) for the ground and canopy surfaces. The canopy and ground surfaces are processed in fixed 100 m data segments, which typically contain more than 100 signal photons. The data were acquired by the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS) instrument on board the Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) observatory.

There is a more recent version of these data.

Version Summary: 

Changes for this version include:

  • Added two flags, gt[x]/land_segments/terrain/subset_te_flag and gt[x]/land_segments/canopy/subset_can_flag to indicate 100 m segments that are populated by less than 100 m worth of data.
  • Improved ground finding, in particular for instances where the canopy/vegetation density is relatively high. This improvement results in more accurate relative canopy heights.
Parameter(s):
  • LANDSCAPE > Canopy Height
  • LANDSCAPE > TERRAIN ELEVATION
Data Format(s):
  • HDF5
Spatial Coverage:
N: 90, 
S: -90, 
E: 180, 
W: -180
Platform(s):ICESat-2
Spatial Resolution:
  • Varies
Sensor(s):ATLAS
Temporal Coverage:
  • 14 October 2018 to 11 November 2020
Version(s):V3
Temporal Resolution91 dayMetadata XML:View Metadata Record
Data Contributor(s):Amy Neuenschwander, Katherine Pitts, Benjamin Jelley, John Robbins, Brad Klotz, Sorin Popescu, Ross Nelson, David Harding, Dylan Pederson

Geographic Coverage

No access options.

As a condition of using these data, you must cite the use of this data set using the following citation. For more information, see our Use and Copyright Web page.

Neuenschwander, A. L., K. L. Pitts, B. P. Jelley, J. Robbins, B. Klotz, S. C. Popescu, R. F. Nelson, D. Harding, D. Pederson, and R. Sheridan. 2020. ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3A Land and Vegetation Height, Version 3. [Indicate subset used]. Boulder, Colorado USA. NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center. doi: https://doi.org/10.5067/ATLAS/ATL08.003. [Date Accessed].

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How To

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FAQ

What subsetting and reformatting services are available for ICESat-2 data?
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