NASA's Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center (ORNL DAAC) released a new Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) Level 4C Waveform Structural Complexity Index (WSCI) data product.
This dataset provides gridded estimates of three-dimensional canopy structural complexity derived from GEDI observations. It aggregates sparse, footprint-level WSCI estimates into a 1-km resolution near-global map, offering mean WSCI estimates and associated 95% absolute prediction intervals calculated from high-quality GEDI footprints. The product enables users to assess large-scale spatial patterns of forest structural complexity across the GEDI observational domain.
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 3 lasers to produce 8 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.
The GEDI Level 4C gridded WSCI dataset is distributed in cloud-optimized GeoTIFF (COG) format and is available through the dataset landing page, NASA Earthdata Search, and Earthdata Cloud. View tutorials for accessing GEDI Level 4 datasets.
If you have questions, please contact ORNL DAAC user services or visit NASA's Earthdata Forum.