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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 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 contains 85 layers for each of the eight beams including the geolocated corrected and smoothed waveform datasets and parameters and the accompanying ancillary, geolocation, and geophysical correction. Additional information can be found in the GEDI L1B Product Data 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 2025-07-10
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
C2142749196-LPCLOUD
Data State
COMPLETE
Number of Files/Granules
95814
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. (2021). GEDI L1B Geolocated Waveform Data Global Footprint Level V002 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/GEDI/GEDI01_B.002 Date Accessed: 2026-05-01

File Naming Convention

GEDI01_B_2024333234311_O33780_03_T10654_02_006_02_V002.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 (V002), and the Data Format (h5).

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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/tide_earth Solid Earth tides 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/noise_mean_corrected Noise mean. counts from the ADC (Analog-to-Digital Converter) float64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/noise_stddev_corrected Corrected noise standard deviation. counts from the ADC float64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/nsemean_even Noise mean of the beam's detector channel from even sub-converter. counts from the ADC float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/nsemean_odd Noise mean of the beam's odd sub-converter. counts from the ADC 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. counts from the ADC float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_energy Integrated energy in RX waveform after subtracting the noise mean. sample number (~1ns) multiplied by counts from the ADC 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). sample intervals (~1 ns) uint16 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_open Time interval from t0 to first stored RX sample (4ns resolution). sample intervals (~1 ns) uint32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_sample_count The number of sample intervals (elements) in each RX waveform. sample intervals 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. index (origin 1) uint64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/selection_stretchers_x Commanded number of samples added to algo section on the left. sample intervals (~1 ns) uint16 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/selection_stretchers_y Commanded number of samples added to algo section on the right. sample intervals (~1 ns) uint16 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/shot_number Unique shot ID. counter 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. boolean 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. counts from the ADC 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. counts from the ADC float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/tx_egamplitude Amplitude of the extended Gaussian fit to the TX waveform. counts from the ADC float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/tx_egamplitude_error Error on tx_egamplitude. counts from the ADC float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/tx_egbias Bias of the extended Gaussian fit to the TX waveform. counts from the ADC float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/tx_egbias_error Error on tx_egbias. counts from the ADC 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). flag uint8 N/A N/A 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. sample intervals (~1 ns) float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/tx_egsigma_error Error on tx_egsigma. sample intervals (~1 ns) float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/tx_gloc Location (mean) of the Gaussian fit to the TX waveform. sample intervals (~1 ns) float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/tx_gloc_error Error on tx_gloc. sample intervals (~1 ns) float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/tx_pulseflag Set to 1 if a pulse is detected in the TX waveform. boolean uint8 N/A 0 to 1 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/tx_sample_count The number of sample intervals (elements) in each TX waveform. sample intervals uint16 N/A 0 to 1 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. index (origin 1) uint64 N/A 0 to 1 N/A N/A
/BEAM0001/all_samples_sum Sum of all values within the 10 km range window. counts from the ADC (Analog-to-Digital Converter) 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. shots int64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0001/ancillary/smoothing_width The 1-sigma width (nsec) of the gaussian kernel used to smooth the corrected waveform. sample intervals (~1 ns) float64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0001/beam Beam number (0-11). counter uint16 N/A 0 to 11 N/A N/A
/BEAM0001/channel Channel number (0-7). counter uint8 N/A 0 to 7 N/A N/A
/BEAM0001/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 since 2018-01-01 float64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0001/geolocation/altitude_instrument Height of the instrument diffractive optical element (DOE) above the WGS84 ellipsoid. meters float64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0001/geolocation/altitude_instrument_error Error on altitude_instrument. meters float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0001/geolocation/bounce_time_offset_bin0 The difference between the transmit time and the time at the start of the RX window seconds float64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0001/geolocation/bounce_time_offset_bin0_error Error on bounce_time_offset_bin0. seconds float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0001/geolocation/bounce_time_offset_lastbin The difference between the transmit time and the time at the end of the RX window seconds float64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0001/geolocation/bounce_time_offset_lastbin_error Error on bounce_time_offset_lastbin. seconds float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
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