G-LiHT: LiDAR-Derived Digital Surface Models for North American Forests

G-LiHT's Digital Surface Model V001 provides LiDAR-derived visualizations of elevation above bare earth for terrestrial ecosystems. The data product is processed as multiple raster GeoTIFFs at a nominal 1-meter spatial resolution over locally defined areas across the Conterminous United States, Alaska, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. It is produced by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and was last updated on the platform in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Modeling forest canopy height and structure based on LiDAR-derived elevation data.
• Analyzing terrain slope and aspect for ecological or hydrological studies.
• Mapping surface rugosity to assess habitat complexity or terrain roughness.
• Creating visualizations of digital surface models for land cover analysis.

Strengths

• Data is processed at a high nominal spatial resolution of 1 meter.
• Covers a broad geographic area including CONUS, Alaska, Puerto Rico, and Mexico.
• Offers multiple derived data products including Mean, Aspect, Rugosity, and Slope.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

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

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 02:43:16.630578; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Conterminous United States, Alaska, Puerto Rico, and Mexico.