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Description

This data set (ATL03) contains height above the WGS 84 ellipsoid (ITRF2014 reference frame), latitude, longitude, and time for all photons downlinked by the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS) instrument on board the Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) observatory. The ATL03 product was designed to be a single source for all photon data and ancillary information needed by higher-level ATLAS/ICESat-2 products. As such, it also includes spacecraft and instrument parameters and ancillary data not explicitly required for ATL03.

Version Description

Changes for this version include:
  • Updated photon heights to include time-dependent range bias. The mean offset between ATL03 version 4 and version 5 photon heights is on the order of 1.2 cm. See more details in the user guide and/or ATBD for this data product.
  • Added XML metadata to indicate the percentage of each surface type within a granule.
  • Updated podppd_flag to include identification of ATLAS calibration periods.
  • Updated the default uncertainty values to represent the current best estimates.
  • Improved the TEP flagging.
  • Implemented some bug fixes including updates in the photon selection algorithm, calculation of the neutral atmosphere delay derivative and quality_ph flagging improvements.

Product Summary

Platforms
ICESat-2
Instruments
ATLAS
Spatial Extent

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

Spatial Reference System(s)
WGS 84 (EPSG:4326)
Location
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
ORBIT
Temporal Extent
2018-10-13 to 2022-10-13
Temporal Resolution
91 Day
Concept ID
C2153572325-NSIDC_CPRD
Data State
DEPRECATED
Number of Files/Granules
0
Processing Level
2A
Published
Science Keywords
Terrain Elevation

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

Neumann, T., Brenner, A., Hancock, D., Robbins, J., Saba, J., Harbeck, K., Gibbons, A., Lee, J., Luthcke, S., Rebold, T., & Et Al. (2021). ATLAS/ICESat-2 L2A Global Geolocated Photon Data, Version 5 [Data set]. NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/ATLAS/ATL03.005 Date Accessed: 2026-06-25

Documents

Publications Citing This Dataset

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Title Year Author Topic
Extracting sea ice topographic features from triangulated surface models Song, Yunting, Floriani, Leila De, Duncan, Kyle, Farrell, Sinead Louise Terrain Elevation, Sea Ice Elevation, VISIBLE IMAGERY, Glacier Elevation/Ice Sheet Elevation
Retrieval of ocean particle backscatter coefficient profile based on Spaceborne Active-Passive Fusion Fernald Algorithm Xu, Jinghong, Liu, Qun, Chen, Yatong, Liu, Chong, Xu, Peituo, Zhou, Yudi, Lv, Weige, Wu, Lan, Liu, Dong Terrain Elevation
Neural network-based snow depth retrieval from AMSR-2 brightness temperatures using ICESat-2 measurement as ground truth Sun-Mack, Sunny, Hu, Yongxiang, Lu, Xiaomei, Chen, Yan, Omar, Ali Atmospheric Water Vapor, Precipitation, Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Concentration, Sea Ice Motion, Snow Depth, Terrain Elevation, Vegetation Height, Sea Ice Concentration, Snow Depth
Recent Variability in Fracture Characteristics and Ice Flow of Thwaites Wang, Shujie, Alexander, Patrick M., Alley, Richard B., Huang, Zhengrui, Parizek, Byron R., Willet, Amanda G., Anandakrishnan, Sridhar Glacier Elevation/Ice Sheet Elevation, Glacier Thickness/Ice Sheet Thickness, Terrain Elevation, Grounding Line, Freeboard, RADAR IMAGERY, Sea Ice Elevation, Sea Ice Elevation, Bathymetry, Bed Elevation, Firn Air Content, Glacier/Ice Sheet Thickness
Advancing Scalable Methods for Surface Water Monitoring: A Novel Integration of Satellite Observations and Machine Learning Techniques Renshaw, Megan, Magruder, Lori A. Lidar, Forest Composition/Vegetation Structure, Digital Elevation/Terrain Model (DEM), Canopy Characteristics, Terrain Elevation, Vegetation Height
Assessment of the Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite-2 Performance Magruder, Lori A., Neumann, Tom, Kurtz, Nathan, Sutterley, Tyler C., Hancock, David, Vornberger, Patricia, Robbins, John, Smith, Benjamin Glacier Elevation/Ice Sheet Elevation, Freeboard, Sea Ice Elevation, Terrain Elevation
An Adaptive Photon Denoising Method over Mountainous Forest Areas Zhang, Qianyin, Zhou, Hui, Ma, Yue, Li, Song, Wang, Heng Terrain Elevation, Vegetation Height
An Algorithm for Extracting Bathymetry from ICESat-2 Data That Employs Rzhanov, Yuri, Lowell, Kim Terrain Elevation
A Cloud-Based Framework for the Quantification of the Uncertainty of a Machine Learning Produced Satellite-Derived Bathymetry Christofilakos, Spyridon, Pertiwi, Avi Putri, Reyes, Andrea Cardenas, Carpenter, Stephen, Thomas, Nathan, Traganos, Dimosthenis, Reinartz, Peter Terrain Elevation
Bayesian Denoising Algorithm for Low SNR Photon-Counting Lidar Data via Probabilistic Parameter Optimization Based on Signal and Noise Distribution Liu, Qi, Yang, Jian, Ma, Yue, Yu, Wenbo, Han, Qijin, Zhou, Zhibiao, Li, Song Terrain Elevation
Forest canopy height mapping using ICESat-2 data to aid forest management in a Canadian Arctic community: A case study of Kluane First Nation, Yukon, Canada Sankar, Ravi Darwin, Pescott, Finella, Hicks, Kate, Murray, Maribeth S. Terrain Elevation
Enhancing the performance of 1D2D flood models using satellite laser altimetry and multi-mission surface water extent maps from Earth observation (EO) ... Charoensuk, Theerapol, Lorentzen, Claudia Katrine Corvenius, Bak, Anne Beukel, Luchner, Jakob, Tttrup, Christian, Bauer-Gottwein, Peter Terrain Elevation, Vegetation Height
Estimating the lake storage capacity on the Tibetan Plateau using satellite altimetry and imagery data: a comparative analysis of water volume change methods Sun, Kai, Chen, Jun, Lhakpa, Drolma, He, Hao, Duan, Zheng Terrain Elevation
Estimation of Footprint-Scale Across-Track Slopes Based on Elevation Frequency Histogram from Single-Track ICESat-2 Photon Data of Strong Beam Zhang, Qianyin, Zhou, Hui, Ma, Yue, Li, Song, Wang, Heng Terrain Elevation, Vegetation Height
Influence of water quality on satellite laser altimeter underwater measurement accuracy Lu, Qingkai, Wu, Jianjun, Ma, Chen, Xia, Haobin, Zhang, Siqin, Xu, Haojun, Gan, Feng, Zhao, Zimeng Terrain Elevation
Mapping bathymetry on Tibetan Plateau lakes using ICESat-2 laser altimetry He, Hao, Chen, Jun, Sheng, Hui, Lhakpa, Drolma, Sun, Kai, Duan, Zheng Terrain Elevation
The Earth Topography 2022 (ETOPO 2022) global DEM dataset MacFerrin, Michael, Amante, Christopher, Carignan, Kelly, Love, Matthew, Lim, Elliot Terrain Elevation, Bathymetry, Bed Elevation, Firn Air Content, Glacier/Ice Sheet Thickness, Glacier Elevation/Ice Sheet Elevation
Ranging bias correction of fully saturated data over waters for ICESat-2 photon-counting lidar Gu, Yuanfei, Yang, Jian, Ma, Yue, Li, Yao, Xu, Nan, Hua Wang, Xiao Terrain Elevation, Surface Water Processes/Measurements
Sea surface wind speed retrieval based on ICESat-2 ocean signal vertical Xu, Jinghong, Liu, Qun, Liu, Chong, Chen, Yatong, Xu, Peituo, Ma, Yue, Chen, Yifu, Zhou, Yudi, Zhang, Han, Sun, Wenbo, Yang, Suhui, Lv, Weige, Wu, Lan, Liu, Dong Sea Ice Elevation, Terrain Elevation, Cloud Properties, Lidar Backscatter
Slope-adaptive Elliptical Neighborhood Algorithm for Denoising Photon-counting LiDAR Data in Complex Terrain. Luan, Kuifeng, Zhang, Lizhe, Zhu, Weidong, Kong, Wei, Liu, Lin, Zheng, Jinhui, Zhang, Peiyao, Chen, Xiangrong, Jiang, Hui Terrain Elevation
Very high-resolution satellite-derived bathymetry using panchromatic and multispectral image fusion Jiang, Chenyang, Chen, Yilan, Liu, Yanxiong, Dong, Zhipeng, Tang, Qiuhua, Li, Zhixian Terrain Elevation
Volumetric evolution of supraglacial lakes in southwestern Greenland using ICESat-2 and Sentinel-2 Feng, Tiantian, Ma, Xinyu, Liu, Xiaomin Glacier Elevation/Ice Sheet Elevation, Terrain Elevation
Multi-Temporal Image Fusion-Based Shallow-Water Bathymetry Inversion Method Using Active and Passive Satellite Remote Sensing Data Li, Jie, Dong, Zhipeng, Chen, Lubin, Tang, Qiuhua, Hao, Jiaoyu, Zhang, Yujie Terrain Elevation
Quantifying Volumetric Scattering Bias in ICESat-2 and Operation Fair, Zachary, Flanner, Mark, Neumann, Tom, Vuyovich, Carrie, Smith, Benjamin, Schneider, Adam VISIBLE IMAGERY, Sea Ice Elevation, Sensor Counts, Terrain Elevation
Assessing vertical accuracy and spatial coverage of ICESat-2 and GEDI spaceborne lidar for creating global terrain models Pronk, Maarten, Eleveld, Marieke, Ledoux, Hugo Plant Phenology, Canopy Characteristics, Vegetation Cover, Lidar, Topography, Vegetation Height, LIDAR WAVEFORM, Terrain Elevation
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