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Description

ATL08QL is the Quick Look (QL) version of ATL08 with an expedited latency of 3‒5 days. QL data are based on the same algorithms that generate the standard products but do not undergo the same rigorous quality checks; thus, they should be used with caution. Once final files are available, the corresponding QL files are removed. ATL08QL contains along-track estimates of terrain height, canopy height, and canopy cover, as well as beam and reference parameters. Data were acquired by the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS) instrument on board the ICESat-2 observatory.

Version Description

Removed canopy finding flag in ATL08 regions 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11; Incorporated the CAB delineation of a ground surface to remove noise bands from the ATL03 data product prior to DRAGANN; Aligned the weak beam to the strong beam from ATL09 based on along-track distance for CAB profile cloud filtering; Updated description for MSW flag; Incorporated a single surface search to improve ground finding; Updated parameters on the quality_ph flag to allow certain photons as input into ATL08; Added a terrain and canopy quality score; Added steps for identifying whether photons are from a single surface or multi-surface; Added ground finding correction based on a priori DEM bias; Added extension of nighttime canopy photons, above FINALGROUND surface; Added steps to reject photons in the presence of fog or low-lying clouds.

Product Summary

Platforms
ICESat-2
Instruments
ATLAS
Projects
LANCE ,
SNWG
Spatial Extent

N: 88 S: -88 E: 180 W: -180

Spatial Reference System(s)
WGS 84 (EPSG:4326)
Location
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
GEODETIC
Temporal Extent
2026-04-28 to Present
Temporal Resolution
91 Day
Concept ID
C3566183500-NSIDC_CPRD
Data State
ACTIVE
Number of Files/Granules
14388
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. L., K. L. Pitts, B. P. Jelley, J. Robbins, J. Markel, S. C. Popescu, R. F. Nelson, D. Harding, D. Pederson, B. Klotz, & R. Sheridan. (2025). ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3A Land and Vegetation Height Quick Look, Version 7 [Dataset]. NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/ATLAS/ATL08QL.007 Date Accessed: 2026-08-03

Documents

USER'S GUIDE

ALGORITHM THEORETICAL BASIS DOCUMENT (ATBD)

DATA PRODUCT SPECIFICATION

GENERAL DOCUMENTATION