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Reverb: NASA search and order tool for subsetting, reprojecting, and reformatting data.

NOTE: Reverb will be decommissioned in the coming months and replaced with Earthdata Search. All links to Reverb will be removed at that time.
GLAS Subsetter: Order geographic and temporal subsets of the data.
Earthdata Search: NASA's newest search and order tool for subsetting, reprojecting, and reformatting data.
 Package 
Data Set ID:
GLA12

GLAS/ICESat L2 Antarctic and Greenland Ice Sheet Altimetry Data, Version 34

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.

This level-2 altimetry product (GLA12) provides surface elevations for ice sheets. Data also include the laser footprint gelocation and reflectance, as well as geodetic, instrument, and atmospheric corrections for range measurements.

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.

Version Summary:

Release 34 incorporates fixes for several data issues that were determined to exist in the GLAS Release 33 data products.

Geographic Coverage

Spatial Coverage:

  • N: 86, S: -86, E: 180, W: -180
Spatial Resolution:
  • 60 m to 70 m x 60 m to 70 m
Temporal Coverage:
  • 20 February 2003 to 11 October 2009
Temporal Resolution: 1288 minute
Parameter(s):
  • Glaciers/Ice Sheets > Glacier Elevation/Ice Sheet Elevation
  • Glaciers/Ice Sheets > Glacier Topography/Ice Sheet Topography
  • Glaciers/Ice Sheets > Ice Sheets
  • Glaciers/Ice Sheets > Glacier Elevation/Ice Sheet Elevation > Laser Reflectance
  • Sea Ice > Reflectance > Laser Reflectance
  • Sea Ice > Reflectance
Platform(s) ICESAT
Sensor(s): ALTIMETERS, GLAS
Data Format(s):
  • Binary
Version: V34
Data Contributor(s): H. Zwally, Robert Schutz, Charles Bentley, Jack Bufton, Thomas Herring, Jean-Bernard Minster, James Spinhirne, Robert Thomas
Metadata XML: View Metadata Record

Data Citation

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.

Zwally, H. J., R. Schutz, C. Bentley, J. Bufton, T. Herring, J. Minster, J. Spinhirne, and R. Thomas. 2014. GLAS/ICESat L2 Antarctic and Greenland Ice Sheet Altimetry Data, Version 34. [Indicate subset used]. Boulder, Colorado USA. NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.5067/ICESAT/GLAS/DATA225. [Date Accessed].
How do I know if my data need to be corrected using G-C elevation correction files?

The G-C surface elevation correction was applied during processing of the Release 34 data.

GLAS data prior to Release 34 were affected by the G-C surface elevation error and included the following products: GLA06 (global elevation), GLA12 (ice sheet), GLA13 (sea ice), and GLA15 (ocean).... read more

In preliminary data from laser #1, why does the "i_surfType" record indicate surface classifications that are simultaneously land, sea ice, ocean, and ice sheet?

This is not an error. The masks for these surfaces purposely overlap in order to not miss any data; the masks are used to determine which data goes in GLA12-15 (the regional products). Most of the ice sheets are considered both ice sheet and land.
In the GLAS altimetry products is there an indicator to the presence of clouds?

Yes, it is an element of: GLA06 (GLAH06), GLA12 (GLAH12), GLA13 (GLAH13), GLA14 (GLAH14), GLA15 (GLAH15). 

The Multiple Scattering Warning Flag, i_cld1_mswf (cld1_mswf_flg) is based on the total... read more

What is the basic difference between a standard and alternate fit and when would you normally choose one over the other?

The standard fit is optimized for "ice sheet-like" returns. The majority of these are single-peaked, narrow waveforms. The standard fit allows for only two peaks. Alternate fitting is meant to capture up to six peaks. More peaks are necessary for more complex waveforms over land, vegetated... read more

How to convert GLAS Binary elevation data to WGS-84

The data tool NGAT provides the option of including a new variable (i_deltaEllip) whose
value is Surface Elevation (T/P ellipsoid) minus Surface Elevation (WGS84 ellipsoid).

This product variable will be added to the end of your output record if you set
"... read more

Questions? Please contact:
NSIDC User Services
Phone: 1 303 492-6199
Email: nsidc@nsidc.org