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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 2 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 has since been reinstalled on the ISS and resumed operations as of April 26, 2024.

The purpose of the GEDI Level 2A Geolocated Elevation and Height Metrics product (GEDI02_A) is to provide waveform interpretation and extracted products from each GEDI01_B received waveform, including ground elevation, canopy top height, and relative height (RH) metrics. The methodology for generating the GEDI02_A product datasets is adapted from the Land, Vegetation, and Ice Sensor (LVIS) algorithm. The GEDI02_A product is provided in HDF5 format and has a spatial resolution (average footprint) of 25 meters.

The GEDI02_A data product contains 156 layers for each of the eight beams, including ground elevation, canopy top height, relative return energy metrics (e.g., canopy vertical structure), and many other interpreted products from the return waveforms. Additional information for the layers can be found in the GEDI Level 2A Dictionary.

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).
  • Incorrect Reference Ground Track (RGT) number in the filename for select GEDI files: GEDI Science Data Products for six orbits on August 7, 2020, and November 12, 2021, had the incorrect RGT number in the filename. There is no impact to the science data, but users should reference this document for the correct RGT numbers.
  • 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 2 data products: (1) Reduced granule size from one full ISS orbit (~7.99 GB) to four segments per orbit (~2.00 GB), (2) Modified file name to include segment number and dataset version, (3) Improved geolocation for orbital segments, (4) Added elevation from the SRTM digital elevation model for comparison, (5) Modified the method to predict an optimum algorithm setting group per laser shot, (6) Added additional land cover datasets related to phenology, urban infrastructure, and water persistence, (7) Added selected_mode_flag dataset to root beam group using selected algorithm, and (8) Removed shots when the laser is not firing.

Product Summary

Platforms
ISS
Instruments
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
C2142771958-LPCLOUD
Data State
ACTIVE
Number of Files/Granules
89664
Processing Level
2A
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Plant Phenology ,
Canopy Characteristics ,
Vegetation Cover ,
Lidar ,
Topography ,
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

Dubayah, R., Hofton, M., Blair, J., Armston, J., Tang, H., & Luthcke, S. (2021). GEDI L2A Elevation and Height Metrics Data Global Footprint Level V002 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/GEDI/GEDI02_A.002 Date Accessed: 2026-03-28

File Naming Convention

GEDI02_A_2024333190440_O33777_03_T03689_02_004_02_V002.h5

The file name begins with the Product Short Name (GEDI02_A), followed by the Julian Date and Time of Acquisition designated as YYYYDDDHHMMSS (2024333190440), the Orbit Number starting with the letter O (O33777), the Sub-Orbit Granule Number (03), Track Number (T03689), the Positioning and Pointing Determination System type where 00 is predict, 01 rapid, 02 and higher is final (02), the Product Generation Executables Version (004), the Granule Production Version (02), the Version Number (V002), and the Data Format (h5).

Documents

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/rx_1gaussfit/ancillary/rx_constraint_gloc_lower Lower allowable limit for the rx Gaussian fit location ns float64 N/A 0 to 1420 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_1gaussfit/ancillary/rx_constraint_gloc_upper Upper allowable limit for the rx Gaussian fit location ns float64 N/A 0 to 1420 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_1gaussfit/ancillary/rx_constraint_gwidth_lower Lower allowable limit for the rx Gaussian fit width. ns float64 N/A 0 to 1000 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_1gaussfit/ancillary/rx_constraint_gwidth_upper Upper allowable limit for the rx Gaussian fit width. ns float64 N/A 0 to 1000 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_1gaussfit/ancillary/rx_estimate_bias If set to 1, a bias was estimated as part of the Gaussian fit. Set to 0 otherwise. N/A int32 N/A 0 to 1 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_1gaussfit/ancillary/rx_mean_noise_level If amplitude is less than this value, no gaussian fitting is performed to the rxwaveform. counts float64 N/A 0 to 350 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_1gaussfit/ancillary/rx_smoothwidth Smoothing width to apply to waveforms before Gaussian fitting. ns float64 N/A 0 to 50 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_1gaussfit/rx_gamplitude Amplitude of single gaussian fit to the rxwaveform counts float32 N/A 0 to 4096 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_1gaussfit/rx_gamplitude_error Error in ampltiude estimate for single gaussian fit to the rxwaveform counts float32 N/A 0 to 4096 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_1gaussfit/rx_gbias Bias estimated in fitting a single gaussian to the rxwaveform counts float32 N/A 0 to 350 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_1gaussfit/rx_gbias_error Error on rx_gbias parameter estimate counts float32 N/A 0 to 350 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_1gaussfit/rx_gchisq Chi-squared value of gaussian fit to the rxwaveform N/A float32 N/A 0 to 10000 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_1gaussfit/rx_gflag 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 9 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_1gaussfit/rx_giters Number of iterations to converge Gaussian fit to rxwaveform. N/A uint16 N/A 1 to 100 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_1gaussfit/rx_gloc Location (mean) of the Gaussian fit to the rxwaveform. ns float32 N/A 0 to 1420 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_1gaussfit/rx_gloc_error Error on rx_gloc parameter estimate ns float32 N/A 0 to 1420 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_1gaussfit/rx_gwidth Width (1 sigma) of the gaussian fit to the rxwaveform ns float32 N/A 0 to 1420 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_1gaussfit/rx_gwidth_error Error on rx_gwidth parameter estimate ns float32 N/A 0 to 300 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_assess/ancillary/rx_ampbounds_ll Lower limit used for pulse amplitude flag counts float64 N/A 0 to 4096 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_assess/ancillary/rx_ampbounds_ul Upper limit used for pulse amplitude flag counts float64 N/A 0 to 4096 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_assess/ancillary/rx_clipamp Ampltiude above which clipping may occur counts float64 N/A 0 to 4096 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_assess/ancillary/rx_pulsethresh Amplitude used to flag low amplitude return waveforms counts float64 N/A 0 to 4096 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_assess/ancillary/rx_ringthresh Multipler on noise stddev to detect presence of ringing below the mean in the pulse counts float64 N/A 0 to 4096 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_assess/ancillary/smoothing_width_locs Used in debugging only ns float64 N/A 0 to 1420 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_assess/mean Mean noise estimate used in rx waveform interpretation algorithm counts float32 N/A 0 to 4096 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_assess/mean_64kadjusted Average amplitude within 10km search window with energy from rxwaveform removed counts float32 N/A 0 to 1000000 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_assess/ocean_calibration_shot_flag Flag indicating return suitablefor use in sensor parameter estimation? N/A uint8 N/A 0 to 1 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_assess/quality_flag Flag indicating likely invalid waveform (1=valid, 0=invalid) N/A uint8 N/A 0 to 1 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_assess/rx_assess_flag Flags indicating various error conditions possible in rxwaveform N/A uint16 N/A 0 to 1 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_assess/rx_clipbin0 location of first waveform sample exceeding clip amplitude bins uint16 N/A 0 to 1420 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_assess/rx_clipbin_count number of consecutive waveform samples affected by clipping bins uint16 N/A 0 to 1420 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_assess/rx_energy total energy of rxwaveform, mean noise removed counts float32 N/A -1000 to 1000000 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_assess/rx_maxamp maximum amplitude of rxwaveform relative to mean noise level counts float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_assess/rx_maxpeakloc Waveform sample where maximum amplitude of waveform occurs counts uint16 N/A 1 to 1420 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_assess/sd_corrected noise standard deviation, corrected for odd/even digitizer bin errors based on pre-launch calibrations counts float32 N/A 0 to 20 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_assess/shot_number Shot number N/A uint64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_processing_a1/ancillary/ampval_limit2 Final ground return pulse selection parameter counts float64 N/A 0 to 4096 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_processing_a1/ancillary/ampval_limit3 Final ground return pulse selection parameter counts float64 N/A 0 to 4096 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_processing_a1/ancillary/amp_thresh Final ground return pulse selection parameter counts float64 N/A 0 to 4096 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_processing_a1/ancillary/botlocdist_limit1 Final ground return pulse selection parameter ns float64 N/A 0 to 50 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_processing_a1/ancillary/botlocdist_limit2 Final ground return pulse selection parameter ns float64 N/A 0 to 50 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_processing_a1/ancillary/botlocdist_limit3 Final ground return pulse selection parameter ns float64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_processing_a1/ancillary/cumulative_energy_minimum Final ground return pulse selection parameter counts float64 N/A 0 to 1 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_processing_a1/ancillary/cumulative_energy_thresh Final ground return pulse selection parameter counts float64 N/A 0 to 1 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_processing_a1/ancillary/enable_select_mode Final ground return pulse selection parameter N/A int32 N/A 0 to 1 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_processing_a1/ancillary/energy_thresh Final ground return pulse selection parameter counts float64 N/A 0 to 1000 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_processing_a1/ancillary/preprocessor_threshold Initial search threshold multiplier to detect signal start and end N/A float64 N/A 0 to 100 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_processing_a1/ancillary/pulse_sep_thresh Final ground return pulse selection parameter ns float64 N/A 0 to 100 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_processing_a1/ancillary/rx_back_threshold If use_fixed_threshold=0, this is the noise stddev multiplier used to detect the lowest elevation signal. If use_fixed_threshold is non_zero, use the value as the threshold N/A float64 N/A 0 to 100 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_processing_a1/ancillary/rx_front_threshold If use_fixed_threshold=0, this is the noise stddev multiplier used to detect the highest elevation signal. If use_fixed_threshold is non_zero, use the value as the threshold N/A float64 N/A 0 to 100 N/A N/A
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