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Description

This dataset provides statewide lidar-derived topography and ecosystem structure products for California, generated from approximately 40 TB of publicly available airborne lidar point cloud data collected across 118 campaigns as part of the U.S. Geological Survey 3D Elevation Program (3DEP). The dataset includes digital terrain models (DTMs), digital surface models (DSMs), normalized digital surface models (nDSMs)/canopy height models (CHMs), slope, aspect, canopy cover, vegetation height percentiles, first-return height statistics, and supporting spatial metadata including lidar campaign year, building-fraction rasters, etc. All products are available at 1-m, 10-m, and 30-m spatial resolutions. The dataset was processed using open-source R and Python workflows on NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) resources. It is designed to support a wide range of applications, including wildfire risk modeling, biodiversity and habitat monitoring, ecosystem management, urban planning, hydrologic analysis, carbon and biomass assessment, and environmental change analysis across California. The data are provided in GeoTIFF and GeoPackage format.

Product Summary

Platforms
MODELS ,
AIRCRAFT
Instruments
Computer ,
LIDAR
Projects
CMS
Spatial Extent

N: 42.4875 S: 31.6058 E: -112.482 W: -125.583

Location
CALIFORNIA
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
CARTESIAN
Temporal Extent
2013-01-01 to 2023-12-31
Data Partner
THE OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY (ORNL) DISTRIBUTED ACTIVE ARCHIVE CENTER (DAAC) (ORNL_DAAC)
Concept ID
C4364851753-ORNL_CLOUD
Data State
COMPLETE
Number of Files/Granules
0
Processing Level
3
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Vegetation Height ,
Digital Elevation/Terrain Model (DEM) ,
Digital Surface Model (DSM) ,
Canopy Structure

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

Kabasares, K. K., Benik, J. T., Brosnan, I. G., Guzman, A., & Park, T. (2026). Lidar-Derived Topography and Ecosystem Structure Products, California, 2013-2023 (Version 1). ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/2523 Date Accessed: 2026-10-27

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