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Description
This data set provides estimates of forest canopy height derived from the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) LiDAR instrument that was aboard the NASA Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation (ICESat) satellite. A global GLAS waveform data set (n=12,336,553) from collection periods between October 2004 and March 2008 was processed to obtain canopy height estimates.
Estimates of GLAS maximum canopy height and crown-area-weighted Lorey's height are provided for 18,578 statistically-selected globally distributed forested sites in a point shapefile. Country is included as a site attribute.
Also provided is the average canopy height for the forested area of each country, plus the number of GLAS data footprints (shots), number of selected sample sites, and estimates of the variance for each country.
Product Summary
Platforms
SATELLITES
Instruments
LIDAR
Spatial Extent
N: 69.2936S: -55.4513E: 179.893W: -161.413
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
CARTESIAN
Temporal Extent
2004-10-03 to 2004-11-08
Data Partner
THE OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY (ORNL) DISTRIBUTED ACTIVE ARCHIVE CENTER (DAAC) (ORNL_DAAC)
Concept ID
C2343105406-ORNL_CLOUD
Data State
COMPLETE
Number of Files/Granules
2
Processing Level
4
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Canopy Characteristics
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.
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Healey, S. P., Hernandez, M. W., Edwards, D. P., Lefsky, M. A., Freeman, J. E., Patterson, P. L., Lindquist, E. J., & Lister, A. J. (2015). CMS: GLAS LiDAR-derived Global Estimates of Forest Canopy Height, 2004-2008 (Version 1). ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1271 Date Accessed: 2026-05-01
Healey, S.P., M.W. Hernandez, D.P. Edwards, M.A. Lefsky, J.E. Freeman, P.L. Patterson, E.J. Lindquist, and A.J. Lister. “CMS: GLAS LiDAR-Derived Global Estimates of Forest Canopy Height, 2004-2008.” ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center, January 1, 2015. doi:10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1271. Date Accessed: 2026-05-01
Healey, S. P., et al. CMS: GLAS LiDAR-Derived Global Estimates of Forest Canopy Height, 2004-2008. 1, ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center, 1 Jan. 2015, doi:10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1271. Date Accessed: 2026-05-01
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