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Description

The Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) mission aims to characterize ecosystem structure and dynamics to enable radically improved quantification and understanding of the Earth’s carbon cycle and biodiversity. The GEDI instrument produces high resolution laser ranging observations of the 3-dimensional structure of the Earth. GEDI is attached to the International Space Station (ISS) and collects data globally between 51.6° N and 51.6° S latitudes at the highest resolution and densest sampling of any light detection and ranging (lidar) instrument in orbit to date. Each GEDI Version 3 granule encompasses one-fourth of an ISS orbit and includes georeferenced metadata to allow for spatial querying and subsetting.

The GEDI instrument was removed from the ISS and placed into storage on March 17, 2023. No data were acquired during the hibernation period from March 17, 2023, to April 24, 2024. GEDI was reinstated on the ISS and resumed operations as of April 26, 2024.

The GEDI Level 1B Geolocated Waveforms product (GEDI01_B) provides geolocated corrected and smoothed waveforms, geolocation parameters, and geophysical corrections for each laser shot for all eight GEDI beams. GEDI01_B data are created by geolocating the GEDI01_A raw waveform data. The GEDI01_B product is provided in HDF5 format and has a spatial resolution (average footprint) of 25 meters.

The GEDI01_B data product comprises 97 layers/variables for each of the eight beams, encompassing geolocated corrected and smoothed waveform datasets, associated parameters, as well as ancillary, geolocation, and geophysical correction information.

Known Issues

  • Data acquisition gaps: GEDI data acquisitions were suspended on December 19, 2019 (2019 Day 353) and resumed on January 8, 2020 (2020 Day 8).
  • Known Issues: Section 8 of the User Guide provides additional information on known issues.

Version Description

The following changes and improvements were implemented for GEDI Version 3 data products: (1) Improved geolocation and consistency of the elevation over the data record, (2) Converted the geodetic convention for the geoid variable to the tide free system, (3) Added geoid_free2mean and tide_earth_free2mean variables to the /BEAMXXXX/geophys_corr group, (4) Added mean_64kadjusted, rx_clipbin0, rx_clipbin_count, rx_clipflag, and th_right_used variables to the /BEAMXXXX group, (5) Updated definition of the X3 degrade flag from “ST blinding” to “GPS data gap (short)”, and (6) Created /BEAMXXXX/geolocation/partials group. Additional information for the new variables can be found in the GEDI Level 1B Data Dictionary.

Product Summary

Platforms
ISS
Instruments
GEDI
Projects
GEDI
Spatial Extent

N: 54 S: -54 E: 180 W: -180

Spatial Resolution
25 Meters x 25 Meters
Location
GLOBAL LAND
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
GEODETIC
Temporal Extent
2019-04-04 to 2023-03-16 ,
2024-04-26 to Present
Temporal Resolution
Varies
Data Partner
Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC) ,
Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA (NASA/GSFC/GEDI)
Concept ID
C3974616058-LPCLOUD
Data State
ACTIVE
Number of Files/Granules
96892
Processing Level
1B
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Topography ,
Canopy Characteristics ,
Digital Elevation/Terrain Model (DEM) ,
Lidar ,
LIDAR WAVEFORM

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

Dubayah, R., Luthcke, S., Blair, J., Hofton, M., Armston, J., & Tang, H. (2026). GEDI L1B Geolocated Waveform Data Global Footprint Level V003 [Dataset]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/GEDI/GEDI01_B.003 Date Accessed: 2026-08-23

File Naming Convention

GEDI01_B_2024333234311_O33780_03_T10654_02_006_02_V003.h5 

The file name begins with the Product Short Name (GEDI01_B), followed by the Julian Date and Time of Acquisition designated as YYYYDDDHHMMSS (2024333234311), the Orbit Number starting with the letter O (O33780), the Sub-Orbit Granule Number (03), Track Number (T10654), the Positioning and Pointing Determination System type where 00 is predict, 01 rapid, 02 and higher is final (02), the Product Generation Executables Version (006), the Granule Production Version (02), the Version Number (V003), and the Data Format (h5).

Documents

USER'S GUIDE

ALGORITHM THEORETICAL BASIS DOCUMENT (ATBD)

GENERAL DOCUMENTATION

Variables

The table below lists the variables contained within a single granule for this dataset. Variables often contain observed or derived geophysical measurements collected from a variety of sources, including remote sensing instruments on satellite and airborne platforms, field campaigns, in situ measurements, and model outputs. The terms variable, parameter, scientific data set, layer, and band have been used across NASA’s Earth science disciplines; however, variable is the designated nomenclature in NASA’s Common Metadata Repository (CMR). Variable metadata attributes such as Name, Description, Units, Data Type, Fill Value, Valid Range, and Scale Factor allow users to efficiently process and analyze the data. The full range of attributes may not be applicable to all variables. Additional information on variable attributes is typically available in the data, user guide, and/or other product documentation.

For questions on a specific variable, please use the Earthdata Forum.

Name Description Units Data Type Fill Value Valid Range Scale Factor Offset
/BEAM0000/geophys_corr/delta_time Transmit time of the shot, measured in seconds from the master_time_epoch. By adding the offset contained within /BEAMXXXX/ancillary/master_time_epoch to delta_time, the time in GPS seconds relative to the GPS epoch can be computed. Equivalent to /BEAMXXXX/master_int+/BEAMXXXX/master_frac. Seconds float64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/geophys_corr/dynamic_atmosphere_correction Dynamic Atmospheric Correction (DAC) includes inverted barometer (IB) effect. Meters float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/geophys_corr/geoid Geoid height above WGS-84 reference ellipsoid (range -107 to 86m) in the tide-free system. Not applied on the product; requested by higher-level products. (see geoid_free2mean to convert to the mean-tide system) Meters float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/geophys_corr/geoid_free2mean Additive value to convert geoid heights from the tide-free system to the mean-tide system. (Add to geoid to get the geoid heights in the mean-tide system.) Meters float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/geophys_corr/tide_earth Solid Earth tides that contains the permanent tide. The tide_earth is already subtracted from the observations resulting in the provided elevations not containing solid earth tides (corrected for solid earth tides) and in a tide-free system (does not include the permanent tide). Meters float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/geophys_corr/tide_earth_free2mean Is equivalent to the permanent tide. When subtracted from tide_earth results in a solid earth tide correction that does not contain the permanent tide. To convert the provided tide-free system elevations to the mean-tide system add tide_earth_free2mean to the provided elevations (elevation + tide_earth_free2mean). Meters float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/geophys_corr/tide_load Load Tide - Local displacement due to Ocean Loading (-6 to 0 cm). Meters float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/geophys_corr/tide_ocean Ocean Tides including diurnal and semi-diurnal (harmonic analysis), and longer period tides (dynamic and self-consistent equilibrium). Meters float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/geophys_corr/tide_ocean_pole Oceanic surface rotational deformation due to polar motion (-2 to 2 mm). Meters float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/geophys_corr/tide_pole Solid Earth Pole Tide -- Rotational deformation due to polar motion (-1.5 to 1.5 cm). Meters float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/master_frac Master time, fractional part. master_int+master_frac is equivalent to /BEAMXXXX/geolocation/delta_time and /BEAMXXXX/geophys_corr/delta_time. Seconds float64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/master_int Master time, integer part. Seconds since master_time_epoch. master_int+master_frac is equivalent to /BEAMXXXX/geolocation/delta_time and /BEAMXXXX/geophys_corr/delta_time. Seconds uint32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/mean_64kadjusted Average amplitude within 10km search window with energy from rxwaveform removed N/A float32 N/A 0 to 1000000 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/noise_mean_corrected Noise mean. N/A float64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/noise_stddev_corrected Corrected noise standard deviation. N/A float64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/nsemean_even Noise mean of the beam's detector channel from even sub-converter. N/A float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/nsemean_odd Noise mean of the beam's odd sub-converter. N/A float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rxwaveform The corrected receive (RX) waveforms. Use rx_sample_count and rx_sample_start_index to identify the location of each waveform. N/A float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_clipbin0 location of first waveform sample exceeding clip amplitude N/A uint16 N/A 0 to 1420 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_clipbin_count number of consecutive waveform samples affected by clipping N/A uint16 N/A 0 to 1420 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_clipflag 1 if any sample in waveform exceeds clip amplitude N/A uint8 N/A 0 to 1 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_energy Integrated energy in RX waveform after subtracting the noise mean. N/A float64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_offset Time interval from first stored sample to first downloaded RX sample (1ns resolution). N/A uint16 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_open Time interval from t0 to first stored RX sample (4ns resolution). N/A uint32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_sample_count The number of sample intervals (elements) in each RX waveform. N/A uint16 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_sample_start_index The index in the rxwaveform dataset of the first element of each RX waveform. The indices start at 1. N/A uint64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/selection_stretchers_x Commanded number of samples added to algo section on the left. N/A uint16 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/selection_stretchers_y Commanded number of samples added to algo section on the right. N/A uint16 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/shot_number Unique shot ID. N/A uint64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/stale_return_flag Indicates that a "stale" cue point from the coarse search algorithm is being used. N/A uint8 N/A 0 to 1 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/th_left_used Count values for left threshold used in fine search. Two consecutive points at or above this value indicates pulse detection. N/A uint16 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/th_right_used Count value for right threshold used in fine search. Two consecutive points at or above this value indicates pulse detection. N/A uint16 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/txwaveform The corrected transmit (TX) waveforms. Use tx_sample_count and tx_sample_start_index to identify the location of each waveform. N/A float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/tx_egamplitude Amplitude of the extended Gaussian fit to the TX waveform. N/A float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/tx_egamplitude_error Error on tx_egamplitude. N/A float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/tx_egbias Bias of the extended Gaussian fit to the TX waveform. N/A float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/tx_egbias_error Error on tx_egbias. N/A float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/tx_egflag Extended Gaussian fit status flag. 1=convergence in chi2 value, 2=convergence in parameter value, 3=convergence in chi2 and parameter values, 4=convergence in orthogonality, 5=maximum number of iterations reached, 6=ftol too small (no further improvement), 7=xtol too small (no further improvement), 8=gtol too small (no further improvement). N/A uint8 N/A 0 to 1 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/tx_eggamma Gamma value of the extended Gaussian fit to the TX waveform. N/A float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/tx_eggamma_error Error on tx_eggamma. N/A float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/tx_egsigma Sigma of the extended Gaussian fit to the TX waveform. N/A float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/tx_egsigma_error Error on tx_egsigma. N/A float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/tx_gloc Location (mean) of the Gaussian fit to the TX waveform. N/A float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/tx_gloc_error Error on tx_gloc. N/A float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/tx_pulseflag Set to 1 if a pulse is detected in the TX waveform. N/A uint8 N/A 0 to 1 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/tx_sample_count The number of sample intervals (elements) in each TX waveform. N/A uint16 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/tx_sample_start_index The index in the rxwaveform dataset of the first element of each RX waveform. The indices start at 1. N/A uint64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0001/all_samples_sum Sum of all values within the 10 km range window. N/A uint32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0001/ancillary/master_time_epoch Number of GPS seconds between the GPS epoch (1980-01-06T00:00:00Z) and the GEDI epoch (2018-01-01T00:00:00Z). Add this value to delta_time parameters to compute full GPS seconds (relative to the GPS epoch) for each data point. Seconds float64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0001/ancillary/mean_samples Averaging window (shots) for non-repeated odd-even measurements from housekeeping. N/A int64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
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