ICESat-2 Global Geolocated Photon Heights

ATL03 provides geolocated photon heights from the ATLAS instrument aboard the ICESat-2 satellite. The dataset contains latitude, longitude, time, and height above the WGS 84 ellipsoid for each detected photon. It is produced by the NSIDC CPRD as a foundational product for generating higher-level altimetry data.

Use Cases

• Deriving surface elevation models by classifying signal photons from background noise using photon height and time.
• Mapping sea ice freeboard by analyzing photon height distributions over ocean regions.
• Monitoring glacier and ice sheet elevation change over time by comparing photon heights across repeated satellite passes.
• Validating atmospheric correction models by examining the distribution of atmospheric return photons.
• Studying vegetation canopy structure by analyzing the vertical distribution of returned photons over forested areas.

Strengths

• Global spatial coverage from the ICESat-2 satellite orbit.
• Contains fundamental photon data required for all higher-level ATLAS/ICESat-2 products.
• Provides precise geolocation (latitude, longitude, height) and timing for each photon.

Limitations

• Specific row count, temporal coverage, and data volume are unknown from the provided description.
• Requires significant processing and photon classification algorithms to extract geophysical parameters.
• Data quality is dependent on instrument performance and atmospheric conditions during acquisition.

Provenance

Source

NSIDC_CPRD (NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center).

Collection Method

Collected by the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS) instrument on the ICESat-2 satellite.

Geography

Global.