Arctic Ocean Summer Sea Ice Airborne Lidar Data from 2022 NASA Campaign

Airborne lidar datasets collected in the Arctic Ocean during July 2022 as part of NASA's Calibration and Validation Campaign for ICESat-2. The data, published by researcher Kutalmis Saylam via the Texas Data Repository, were acquired using a Leica Chiroptera 4X system from Thule Air Force Base. It includes two sets of data for near-infrared (1064 nm) and green-wavelength (515 nm) light.

Use Cases

• Calibrating and validating ICESat-2 satellite measurements based on concurrent airborne lidar data.
• Studying summer sea ice surface topography and melt features based on high-resolution lidar point clouds.
• Analyzing differences in surface reflectance or penetration based on near-infrared versus green-wavelength lidar returns.
• Mapping flight line coverage and spatial patterns of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean region.

Strengths

• Data collected during a dedicated NASA calibration/validation campaign in July 2022, ensuring relevance for satellite verification.
• Includes dual-wavelength lidar data (1064 nm NIR and 515 nm green), potentially allowing for comparative analysis.
• Geospatial data is published in a standard UTM N16 coordinate reference system.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality, coverage, and file structure require manual inspection after download.
• Row count and total data volume are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale processing.
• This is described as a sample dataset; comprehensive access may require contacting the researcher directly.

Provenance

Source

NASA Calibration and Validation Campaign, researcher Kutalmis Saylam, Texas Data Repository.

Collection Method

Airborne lidar data collected using a Leica Chiroptera 4X system.

Time Range

July 2022

Freshness

Last updated 2025-10-15 06:33:04; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Arctic Ocean, operations based out of Thule Air Force Base.