Name: GLAS/ICESat L1A Global Laser Pointing Data, Version 18
Creator: National Snow and Ice Data Center
Keywords: ATTITUDE CHARACTERISTICS,VIEWING GEOMETRY

GLAS/ICESat L1A Global Laser Pointing Data, Version 18

Data set id:

GLA04

DOI: 10.5067/9BFEPZTKTG2T

Data Citation and Acknowledgment
As a condition of using these data, you must cite the use of this data set. Such a practice gives credit to data set producers and advances principles of transparency and reproducibility.

Hancock, D., Zwally, H. J., Schutz, R. & Abshire, J. (2003). GLAS/ICESat L1A Global Laser Pointing Data. (GLA04, Version 18). [Data Set]. Boulder, Colorado USA. National Snow and Ice Data Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/9BFEPZTKTG2T. [describe subset used if applicable]. Date Accessed 08-29-2026.

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There is a more recent version of these data.

Overview

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 global laser pointing data (GLA04) contain two orbits of attitude data from the spacecraft star tracker, instrument star tracker, gyro, and laser reference system, and other spacecraft attitude data required to calculate precise laser pointing. Data are in scaled integer binary format, big-endian (Unix) byte order, and are available via FTP.

Parameter(s):

ATTITUDE CHARACTERISTICS

VIEWING GEOMETRY

Platform(s):

ICESat

Sensor(s):

ALTIMETERS

GLAS

Data Format(s):

Binary

Temporal Coverage:

13 January 2003 to 13 January 2010

Temporal Resolution:

6 hour

Spatial Resolution:

Not Specified

Spatial Reference System(s):

Not Specified

Spatial Coverage:

Northern latitude
86
Southern latitude
-86
Eastern longitude
180
Western longitude
-180

Blue outlined yellow areas on the map below indicate the spatial coverage for this data set.

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This data set has been retired. There is a more recent version of these data.

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