G-LiHT Canopy Height Model: LiDAR-Derived Forest Canopy Data for North America

G-LiHT's Canopy Height Model (GLCHMK) data product provides LiDAR-derived maximum canopy height and canopy variability information. The data is collected by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center using an airborne imaging system over forest communities in the Conterminous United States, Alaska, Puerto Rico, and Mexico, starting in 2011. Processed data is provided as a Google Earth overlay KML file at a nominal 1-meter spatial resolution over locally-defined areas.

Use Cases

• Modeling forest carbon stocks based on LiDAR-derived canopy height and variability.
• Analyzing ecosystem structure and biodiversity patterns across North American ecoregions.
• Training machine learning models for land cover classification using high-resolution canopy data.
• Studying the impacts of climate change on forest canopy characteristics over time.

Strengths

• Data originates from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, a highly authoritative source.
• Provides a nominal 1-meter spatial resolution, suggesting high detail for local analysis.
• Collection started in 2011 and is stated to continue growing, indicating an ongoing temporal scope.

Limitations

• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data coverage is over locally-defined areas, which may result in a patchy or incomplete geographic scope.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Goddard Space Flight Center

Collection Method

Collected via the portable, airborne G-LiHT (Goddard’s LiDAR, Hyperspectral, and Thermal Imager) system.

Time Range

Collection began in 2011 and is stated to continue.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 02:43:13.299431; freshness should be verified.

Geography

North America, including the Conterminous United States (CONUS), Alaska, Puerto Rico, and Mexico.