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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 2B Canopy Cover and Vertical Profile Metrics product (GEDI02_B) extracts biophysical metrics from each GEDI waveform. These metrics are based on the directional gap probability profile derived from the L1B waveform. Metrics provided include canopy cover, Plant Area Index (PAI), Plant Area Volume Density (PAVD), and Foliage Height Diversity (FHD). The GEDI02_B product is provided in HDF5 format and has a spatial resolution (average footprint) of 25 meters.

The GEDI02_B data product contains 209 layers/variables for each of the eight-beam ground transects (or laser footprints located on the land surface). Variables provided include precise latitude, longitude, elevation, height, canopy cover, and vertical profile metrics. Additional information for the variables can be found in the GEDI Level 2B 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).
  • 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) Provided local estimates of the reflectance ratio to improve canopy cover estimates, (2) Added relative canopy height metric (rch) variable, (3) Improved geolocation across the data record, (4) Added new quality variables (l2_algrunflag, l2a_quality_flag_rel2, l2a_quality_flag_rel3, l2b_quality_flag_rel2, l2b_quality_flag_rel3, and l2_algrunflag_aN) with consistent quality flags across Level-2 products, (5) Corrected errors in the calculation of the rx waveform elevation array which impacted foliage height diversity (fhd) and plant area volume density (pavd_z) metrics, (6) Added new land cover data metrics (phenology_phase, phenology_year and worldcover_class), (7) Corrected error in calculation of leaf_off_flag variable, (8) Added new directional gap probability profile (pgap_theta_z_aN) and selected algorithm run flag (selected_rg_algorithm_aN) processing variables, and (9) Removed variables for unused algorithm setting groups _a3, _a4, and _a6. Additional details are provided in the 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
C3974616135-LPCLOUD
Data State
ACTIVE
Number of Files/Granules
96870
Processing Level
2B
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Canopy Characteristics ,
Vegetation Cover ,
Digital Elevation/Terrain Model (DEM) ,
VIEWING GEOMETRY ,
Terrain Elevation ,
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., Tang, H., Armston, J., Luthcke, S., Hofton, M., & Blair, J. (2026). GEDI L2B Canopy Cover and Vertical Profile Metrics Data Global Footprint Level V003 [Dataset]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/GEDI/GEDI02_B.003 Date Accessed: 2026-08-23

File Naming Convention

GEDI02_B_2024333221021_O33779_03_T07960_02_004_01_V003.h5

The file name begins with the Product Short Name (GEDI02_B), followed by the Julian Date and Time of Acquisition designated as YYYYDDDHHMMSS (2024333221021), the Orbit Number starting with the letter O (O33779), the Sub-Orbit Granule Number (03), Track Number (T07960), 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 (01), 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/geolocation/lat_lowestmode_a5 Latitude of center of lowest mode Degree float64 N/A -90 to 90 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/geolocation/lat_lowestmode_a10 Latitude of center of lowest mode Degree float64 N/A -90 to 90 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/geolocation/local_beam_azimuth Azimuth of the unit pointing vector for the laser in the local ENU frame. The angle is measured from North and positive towards East. Radians float32 N/A 0 to 6.2832 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/geolocation/local_beam_elevation Elevation of the unit pointing vector for the laser in the local ENU frame. The angle is measured from East-North plane and positive towards Up. Radians float32 N/A 1.3963 to 1.5708 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/geolocation/longitude_bin0_a1 Longitude of first bin of the pgap_theta_z, interpolated from L1B waveform coordinate Degree float64 -9999 -180 to 180 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/geolocation/longitude_bin0_a2 Longitude of first bin of the pgap_theta_z, interpolated from L1B waveform coordinate Degree float64 -9999 -180 to 180 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/geolocation/longitude_bin0_a5 Longitude of first bin of the pgap_theta_z, interpolated from L1B waveform coordinate Degree float64 -9999 -180 to 180 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/geolocation/longitude_bin0_a10 Longitude of first bin of the pgap_theta_z, interpolated from L1B waveform coordinate Degree float64 -9999 -180 to 180 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/geolocation/longitude_lastbin_a1 Longitude of last bin of the pgap_theta_z, interpolated from L1B waveform coordinate Degree float64 -9999 -180 to 180 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/geolocation/longitude_lastbin_a2 Longitude of last bin of the pgap_theta_z, interpolated from L1B waveform coordinate Degree float64 -9999 -180 to 180 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/geolocation/longitude_lastbin_a5 Longitude of last bin of the pgap_theta_z, interpolated from L1B waveform coordinate Degree float64 -9999 -180 to 180 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/geolocation/longitude_lastbin_a10 Longitude of last bin of the pgap_theta_z, interpolated from L1B waveform coordinate Degree float64 -9999 -180 to 180 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/geolocation/lon_highestreturn_a1 Longitude of highest detected return Degree float64 N/A -180 to 180 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/geolocation/lon_highestreturn_a2 Longitude of highest detected return Degree float64 N/A -180 to 180 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/geolocation/lon_highestreturn_a5 Longitude of highest detected return Degree float64 N/A -180 to 180 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/geolocation/lon_highestreturn_a10 Longitude of highest detected return Degree float64 N/A -180 to 180 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/geolocation/lon_lowestmode_a1 Longitude of center of lowest mode Degree float64 N/A -180 to 180 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/geolocation/lon_lowestmode_a2 Longitude of center of lowest mode Degree float64 N/A -180 to 180 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/geolocation/lon_lowestmode_a5 Longitude of center of lowest mode Degree float64 N/A -180 to 180 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/geolocation/lon_lowestmode_a10 Longitude of center of lowest mode Degree float64 N/A -180 to 180 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/geolocation/shot_number Unique shot ID. N/A uint64 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/geolocation/solar_azimuth The azimuth of the sun position vector from the laser bounce point position in the local ENU frame. The angle is measured from North and is positive towards East. Degree float32 N/A -180 to 180 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/geolocation/solar_elevation The elevation of the sun position vector from the laser bounce point position in the local ENU frame. The angle is measured from the East-North plane and is positive Up. Degree float32 N/A -90 to 90 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/l2a_quality_flag_rel2 Release 2 flag simplifying consistent selection of Level-2A data for higher level GEDI products (see User Guide for details) N/A uint8 N/A 0 to 1 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) N/A uint8 N/A 0 to 1 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/l2b_quality_flag_rel2 Release 2 flag simplifying consistent selection of Level-2B data for higher level GEDI products (see User Guide for details) N/A uint8 N/A 0 to 1 N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/l2b_quality_flag_rel3 Flag simplifying consistent selection of Level-2B data for higher level GEDI products (see User Guide for details) N/A uint8 N/A 0 to 1 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 0 to 1 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. Percent 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/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, 3: Australasia, 4: Africa, 5: South Asia, 6: South America, 7: North America). N/A uint8 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/land_cover_data/shot_number Shot number N/A uint64 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. Percent 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/lat_highestreturn Latitude of the 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/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/num_detectedmodes Number of detected modes in rxwaveform N/A uint8 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/omega Foliage clumping index N/A float32 N/A N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/pai Total plant area index m2/m2 float32 -9999 N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/pai_z Plant Area Index (PAI) vertical profile from ground (z=0) to canopy top with a vertical step size of dZ. The vertical profile is cumulative from canopy top to the ground, where pai_z(z=0) = pai and pai_z(z > z_max) = 0. m2/m2 float32 -9999 N/A N/A N/A
/BEAM0000/pavd_z Vertical Plant Area Volume Density profile from ground (z=0) to canopy top with a vertical step size of dZ m2/m3 float32 -9999 N/A N/A N/A
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