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Description

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.

Version Description

Changes for this version include:
  • Added terrain_best_fit_geosegment parameter at the 20 m (geosegment) rate. This represents the best estimate of terrain at the 20 m along-track resolution.
  • Added h_canopy_geosegment which represents the 20 m estimate of the 98% relative canopy height.
  • Added latitude_20 and longitude_20 to the data product for geolocation of the 20 m terrain and canopy height estimates
  • Added a segment_woody_vegetation_fractional cover to the ATL08 data product. This product is derived from the Copernicus fractional forest and fraction shrub data products
  • Updated the segment_landcover with the 2019 Copernicus landcover. This update replaces the MODIS landcover value which was derived from the 2014 MODIS product. See the version section in the user guide for more information.
  • Updated the urban_flag parameter with the DLR Global Urban Footprint (GUF) as a potential indicator of man-made/built structures. See the version section in the user guide for more information.

Product Summary

Platforms
ICESat-2
Instruments
ATLAS
Spatial Extent

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

Spatial Reference System(s)
WGS 84 (EPSG:4326)
Location
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
ORBIT
Temporal Extent
2018-10-14 to 2022-10-13
Temporal Resolution
91 Day
Concept ID
C2153574670-NSIDC_CPRD
Data State
DEPRECATED
Number of Files/Granules
0
Processing Level
3
Published
Science Keywords
Terrain Elevation ,
Vegetation Height

Citation

Citation is critically important for dataset documentation and discovery. This dataset is openly shared, without restriction, in accordance with the EOSDIS Data Use and Citation Guidance.

Copy Citation

Neuenschwander, A., Pitts, K., Jelley, B., Robbins, J., Klotz, B., Popescu, S., Nelson, R., Harding, D., Pederson, D., & Sheridan, R. (2021). ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3A Land and Vegetation Height, Version 5 [Dataset]. NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/ATLAS/ATL08.005 Date Accessed: 2026-10-03

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Publications Citing This Dataset

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Title Authors Year Referenced Datasets
Exploring the potential of Harmonized Landsat-Sentinel-2 in predicting boreal forest structure from UAV-LiDAR data in Northwestern America
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Retrieving snow depth distribution by downscaling ERA5 Reanalysis with
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A Bare-Earth GoogleDEM to Simulate Flooding in New Delhi, India
  • Liu, Yinxue, Bates, Paul, Neal, Jeffrey Charles, Slater, Louise, Zhao, Jie, BenHaim, Zvika
An Adaptive Photon Denoising Method over Mountainous Forest Areas
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An improved approach for retrieval of tidal flat elevation based on
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Global Climatologies of Vegetation Aerodynamic Roughness for Momentum: A
  • Borak, Jordan S., Jasinski, Michael F., Neuenschwander, Amy, Tangdamrongsub, Natthachet
Global digital elevation model (GDEM) product generation by correcting ASTER GDEM elevation with ICESat-2 altimeter data
  • Li, Binbin, Xie, Huan, Liu, Shijie, Ye, Zhen, Hong, Zhonghua, Weng, Qihao, Sun, Yuan, Xu, Qi, Tong, Xiaohua
Estimation of Footprint-Scale Across-Track Slopes Based on Elevation Frequency Histogram from Single-Track ICESat-2 Photon Data of Strong Beam
  • Zhang, Qianyin, Zhou, Hui, Ma, Yue, Li, Song, Wang, Heng
Enhancing the performance of 1D2D flood models using satellite laser altimetry and multi-mission surface water extent maps from Earth observation (EO) ...
  • Charoensuk, Theerapol, Lorentzen, Claudia Katrine Corvenius, Bak, Anne Beukel, Luchner, Jakob, Tttrup, Christian, Bauer-Gottwein, Peter
Neural network-based snow depth retrieval from AMSR-2 brightness temperatures using ICESat-2 measurement as ground truth
  • Sun-Mack, Sunny, Hu, Yongxiang, Lu, Xiaomei, Chen, Yan, Omar, Ali
Modeling the Estimation Uncertainty of Terrain Matching Methods for Spaceborne Laser Altimetry Data
  • Ma, Yue, Zhang, Biyi, Zhao, Pufan, Zhou, Hui, Li, Song, Jiang, Weiping
Toward long-term monitoring of regional permafrost thaw with satellite interferometric synthetic aperture radar
  • Sadeghi Chorsi, Taha, Meyer, Franz J., Dixon, Timothy H.
ICESat-2 derived canopy covers with radiometric and reflectance ratio corrections
  • Zhang, Qianyin, Zhou, Hui, Ma, Yue, Wang, Hong, Li, Song, Chen, Yuwei
Hydraulic River Models From ICESat-2 Elevation and Water Surface Slope
  • Musaeus, Aske Folkmann, Kittel, Cecile Marie Margaretha, Luchner, Jakob, Frias, Monica Coppo, BauerGottwein, Peter
Wetlands Water Level Measurements From the New Generation of Satellite Laser Altimeters: Systematic SpatialTemporal Evaluation of ICESat2 and GEDI Missions Over the South Florida Everglades
  • PalominoAngel, Sebastian, Wdowinski, Shimon, Li, Shanshan
Signal Photon Extraction and Classification for ICESat-2 Photon-Counting Lidar in Coastal Areas
  • Song, Yue, Ma, Yue, Zhou, Zhibiao, Yang, Jian, Li, Song
Generating Wall-to-Wall Canopy Height Information from Discrete Data
  • Doyog, Nova D., Lin, Chinsu
Assessing vertical accuracy and spatial coverage of ICESat-2 and GEDI spaceborne lidar for creating global terrain models
  • Pronk, Maarten, Eleveld, Marieke, Ledoux, Hugo
Mountain snow depth retrievals from customized processing of ICESat-2 satellite laser altimetry
  • Besso, Hannah, Shean, David, Lundquist, Jessica D.
Mapping vegetation height and identifying the northern forest limit across Canada using ICESat-2, Landsat time series and topographic data
  • Travers-Smith, H., Coops, N.C., Mulverhill, C., Wulder, M.A., Ignace, D., Lantz, T.C.
Characterizing post-fire northern boreal forest height dynamics
  • Queinnec, Martin, Coops, Nicholas C., White, Joanne C.
INTEGRATING SENTINEL-1&2 AND ICESAT-2 DATA FOR FOREST CANOPY HEIGHT
  • Doyog, Nova D., Lin, Chinsu, Liu, Keng-Hao
Modeling and correcting building boundary in ICESat-2 spaceborne laser altimeter data considering the extended laser spot effect
  • Zhao, Pufan, Zhang, Biyi, Liu, Qi, Liu, Xinyuan, Yang, Jian, Li, Song, Ma, Yue
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