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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 re-instated on the ISS and resumed operations as of April 26, 2024.

The GEDI Level 2A Geolocated Elevation and Height Metrics product (GEDI02_A) provides 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 417 layers/variables 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).
  • 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) Introduced consistent quality flags and algorithm setting group selection variables (l2_algrunflag, BEAMXXXX/l2_algrunflag_aN, l2a_quality_flag_rel3, selected_algorithm), (3) Added l2_algrunflag and l2a_quality_flag_rel3 variables to the /BEAMXXXX/geolocation group and updated definition of selected_algorithm, (4) Added land_cover_data metrics variables (phenology_phase, phenology_year, worldcover_class) to the BEAMXXXX/land_cover_data group and corrected error in calculating leaf_off_flag, (5) Corrected errors when calculating waveform quality parameters mean_64kadjusted, rx_clipbin0, and rx_clipbin_count variables in the BEAMXXXX/rx_assess group, and (6) Removed unused algorithm setting groups (3, 4, 6) from the /BEAMXXXX/rx_processing_aN group. Additional information for the new variables can be found in the GEDI Level 2A 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
C3974616071-LPCLOUD
Data State
ACTIVE
Number of Files/Granules
96864
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. (2026). GEDI L2A Elevation and Height Metrics Data Global Footprint Level V003 [Dataset]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/GEDI/GEDI02_A.003 Date Accessed: 2026-08-24

File Naming Convention

GEDI02_A_2024333190440_O33777_03_T03689_02_004_02_V003.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 (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/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/l2a_quality_flag_rel2 Flag simplifying consistent selection of Level-2A data for higher level GEDI products (see User Guide for details). Release 2 version of the flag. N/A uint8 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/l2a_quality_flag_rel3 Flag simplifying consistent selection of Level-2A data for higher level GEDI products (see User Guide for details). Release 3 version of the flag. N/A uint8 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/l2_algrunflag The L2B algorithm is run if this flag is set to 1. This flag selects data which have sufficient waveform fidelity for L2B to run. N/A uint8 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/land_cover_data/landsat_treecover Tree cover in the year 2010, defined as canopy closure for all vegetation taller than 5m in height (Hansen et al.). Encoded as a percentage per output grid cell. Percent float64 -9999 N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/land_cover_data/landsat_water_persistence The percent UMD GLAD Landsat observations with classified surface water between 2018 and 2019. Values > 80 usually represent permanent water, while values < 10 represent permanent land. N/A uint8 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/land_cover_data/leaf_off_flag GEDI 1 km EASE 2.0 grid flag derived from leaf_off_doy, leaf_on_doy and pft_class, indicating if the observation was recorded during leaf-off conditions in deciduous forests and woodlands. 1 = leaf-off and 0 = leaf-on. N/A uint8 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/land_cover_data/modis_nonvegetated Percent non-vegetated from MODIS data. Interpolated at latitude_bin0 and longitude_bin0. doi:10.5067/MODIS/MOD44B.006 Percent float64 -9999 N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/land_cover_data/modis_nonvegetated_sd Percent non-vegetated standard deviation from MODIS data. Interpolated at latitude_bin0 and longitude_bin0. doi:10.5067/MODIS/MOD44B.006 Percent float64 -9999 N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/land_cover_data/modis_treecover Percent tree cover from MODIS data. Interpolated at latitude_bin0 and longitude_bin0. doi:10.5067/MODIS/MOD44B.006 Percent float64 -9999 N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/land_cover_data/modis_treecover_sd Percent tree cover standard deviation from MODIS data. Interpolated at latitude_bin0 and longitude_bin0. doi:10.5067/MODIS/MOD44B.006 Percent float64 -9999 N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/land_cover_data/pft_class GEDI 1 km EASE 2.0 grid Plant Functional Type (PFT) derived from the MODIS MCD12Q1v006 Product. Values follow the Land Cover Type 5 Classification scheme. N/A uint8 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/land_cover_data/phenology_phase VIIRS phenological phase of GEDI shot (1 = onset greenness increase, 2 = mid-greenup, 3 = onset greenness maximum, 4 = onset greenness decrease, 5 = mid-senescence, 6 = onset greenness minimum, 255 = null) N/A uint8 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/land_cover_data/phenology_year VIIRS product year used to determine phenological phase N/A uint16 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/land_cover_data/region_class GEDI 1 km EASE 2.0 grid world continental regions (0: Water, 1: Europe, 2: North Asia, 5: South Asia, 3: Australasia, 4: Africa, 6: South America, 7: North America). N/A uint8 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/land_cover_data/urban_focal_window_size The focal window size used to calculate urban_proportion. Values are 3 (3x3 pixel window size) or 5 (5x5 pixel window size). N/A uint8 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/land_cover_data/urban_proportion The percentage proportion of land area within a focal area surrounding each shot that is urban land cover. Urban land cover is derived from the DLR 12 m resolution TanDEM-X Global Urban Footprint Product. N/A uint8 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/land_cover_data/worldcover_class ESA WorldCover 10 m 2021 v200. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7254221 Percent uint8 -9999 N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/latitude_bin0_error Error in latitude of bin 0 Degree float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/lat_highestreturn Latitude of highest detected return Degree float64 N/A -90 to 90 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/lat_lowestmode Latitude of center of lowest mode Degree float64 N/A -90 to 90 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/longitude_bin0_error Error on longitude_bin0. Degree float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/lon_highestreturn Longitude of highest detected return Degree float64 N/A -180 to 180 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/lon_lowestmode Longitude of center of lowest mode Degree float64 N/A -180 to 180 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_sea_surface Mean sea surface height above the WGS84 ellipsoid, includes the geoid. Interpolated at latitude_bin0 and longitude_bin0 from DTU15. Meters float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/num_detectedmodes Number of detected modes in rxwaveform N/A uint8 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rh Relative height metrics at 1 % interval Meters float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_1gaussfit/ancillary/mpfit_maxiters Maximum number of iterations allowed for fitting the Gaussian/extended Gaussian to the rxwaveform N/A int64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_1gaussfit/ancillary/mpfit_max_func_evals Maximum number of function evalutions allowed for fitting the Gaussian/extended Gaussian to the rxwaveform. N/A int64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_1gaussfit/ancillary/mpfit_tolerance Convergence tolerance when fitting the Gaussian/extended Gaussian to the rxwaveform. N/A float64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_1gaussfit/ancillary/rx_constraint_gamplitude_lower Lower allowable limit for the rx Gaussian fit amplitude N/A float64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_1gaussfit/ancillary/rx_constraint_gamplitude_upper Upper allowable limit for the rx Gaussian fit amplitude N/A float64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_1gaussfit/ancillary/rx_constraint_gloc_lower Lower allowable limit for the rx Gaussian fit location Nanoseconds float64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_1gaussfit/ancillary/rx_constraint_gloc_upper Upper allowable limit for the rx Gaussian fit location Nanoseconds float64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_1gaussfit/ancillary/rx_constraint_gwidth_lower Lower allowable limit for the rx Gaussian fit width. Nanoseconds float64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_1gaussfit/ancillary/rx_constraint_gwidth_upper Upper allowable limit for the rx Gaussian fit width. Nanoseconds float64 N/A N/A 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 N/A 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. N/A float64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_1gaussfit/ancillary/rx_smoothwidth Smoothing width to apply to waveforms before Gaussian fitting. Nanoseconds float64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/rx_1gaussfit/rx_gamplitude Amplitude of single gaussian fit to the rxwaveform N/A float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
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