GEDI L2B: Global Canopy Cover and Vertical Profile Metrics from Spaceborne Lidar

GEDI's high-resolution laser ranging from the International Space Station provides 3D ecosystem structure data globally between 51.6° N and 51.6° S. The Level 2B product extracts biophysical metrics like canopy cover and Plant Area Index from each waveform at a 25-meter footprint resolution. This dataset, produced by NASA, includes known acquisition gaps and resumed operations in April 2024.

Use Cases

• Modeling global carbon stocks based on canopy cover and Plant Area Index (PAI) metrics.
• Analyzing forest structure and biodiversity using Foliage Height Diversity (FHD) and vertical profile data.
• Mapping vegetation density and biomass with Plant Area Volume Density (PAVD) measurements.
• Validating terrestrial ecosystem models using precise geolocated footprint data.

Strengths

• Data has a high spatial resolution with an average footprint of 25 meters.
• Product contains 96 layers of metrics for each of the eight laser beam transects.
• Global coverage between 51.6° N and 51.6° S latitudes from the ISS platform.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data acquisition was suspended from March 2023 to April 2024, creating a temporal gap.
• Known issues exist with incorrect filenames for select orbits, requiring user reference to correction documents.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Collected by the GEDI lidar instrument attached to the International Space Station.

Time Range

Covers periods of operation with a known hibernation from March 17, 2023, to April 24, 2024.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03 13 02:36:27.263033; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global coverage between 51.6° N and 51.6° S latitudes.