NASA GEDI: Global Ecosystem Lidar Waveforms from the ISS

GEDI Version 2 data provides high-resolution laser ranging observations of Earth's 3D structure from the International Space Station. The GEDI01_B product contains geolocated, corrected waveforms and 83 variables per shot for eight beams, with a 25-meter spatial resolution. NASA's mission aims to quantify the Earth's carbon cycle and biodiversity, with data collected globally between 51.6° N and 51.6° S.

Use Cases

• Modeling above-ground biomass and carbon storage based on canopy height and structure measurements.
• Mapping global forest structure and habitat complexity for biodiversity studies.
• Calibrating and validating other satellite-derived vegetation and terrain products.
• Analyzing seasonal and long-term changes in ecosystem dynamics from waveform data.

Strengths

• Provides the highest resolution and densest sampling of any orbital lidar instrument to date.
• Contains 83 variables per laser shot across eight beams, including geophysical corrections.
• Data has a defined spatial resolution of 25 meters per average footprint.
• Collected globally between 51.6° N and 51.6° S, offering broad tropical and temperate coverage.

Limitations

• Data acquisition had gaps, including a suspension from December 19, 2019, to January 8, 2020.
• The instrument was in hibernation with no data acquired from March 17, 2023, to April 24, 2024.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred from the separate Product Data Dictionary.

Provenance

Source

NASA Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) mission.

Collection Method

Data collected by a lidar instrument attached to the International Space Station.

Time Range

Coverage includes periods from initial operation, with a hiatus from March 2023 to April 2024.

Freshness

Data collection resumed on April 26, 2024, after reinstatement on the ISS.

Geography

Global coverage between 51.6 degrees North and 51.6 degrees South latitude.