NASA's Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center (ORNL DAAC) released a new Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) Level 4C (L4C) footprint level Waveform Structural Complexity Index (WSCI), Version 3 data product.
This dataset contains GEDI L4C Version 3 predictions of the WSCI and estimates of prediction intervals for each footprint estimate at 95% confidence. Footprint WSCI was derived from XGBoost regression models relating simulated GEDI Level 2A (L2A) waveform relative height (RH) metrics to a 3D structural complexity metric calculated from matched Airborne laser Scanning (ALS) point clouds. The footprints are reported for the period April 17, 2019 to July 9, 2025. The Version 3 GEDI04_C product is derived from the Version 3 GEDI02_A product.
GEDI is a full-waveform lidar instrument aboard the International Space Station (ISS) that collects high-resolution laser ranging measurements of Earth’s vertical structure. The instrument uses three lasers to produce eight beam ground transects, sampling ~25 m footprints spaced approximately every 60 m along-track. Beam transects are spaced approximately 600 m apart in the cross-track direction, resulting in an across-track width of ~4.2 km. GEDI’s precise measurements of canopy height, vertical structure, and surface elevation greatly advance our understanding of forest ecosystems, carbon and water cycling, biodiversity, and habitat structure.
You can access the data through NASA Earthdata Search and a variety of NASA Earthdata tools and services, including Earthdata Cloud, OPeNDAP, and Harmony. Tutorials on accessing GEDI Level 4 datasets are available on this GEDI github page.
More information on this dataset and others like it can be found on the GEDI project landing page.