Combined ground and tree-top heights (ICESat-2, gridded)

In plain English

What it measures. Gridded maps of ground elevation and the height of the tree canopy on top of it, combined across the whole ICESat-2 mission.

How it's made. Built by binning the laser height measurements from ICESat-2's ATLAS instrument (via its land-and-vegetation product) into a grid; this version covers the full mission rather than a single month.

How & where you'd use it. Helps map forest height and terrain, estimate vegetation and carbon, and study how landscapes change over time.

What's measured

BIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › CANOPY CHARACTERISTICSLAND SURFACE › TOPOGRAPHY › TERRAIN ELEVATION

Coverage & cadence

Time span2018-10-01 → ongoing
Measured byICESat-2 (ATLAS)
Processing levelLevel 3
Spatial extent-180, -70, 180, 90
FormatsCOG
StatusACTIVE

What you can do with it

Map vegetation, forests and biomass
Monitor ecosystem productivity and carbon
Support habitat and biodiversity studies

Official description

The ATL18 and ATL28 data products comprise several gridded terrain and canopy elevation parameters derived from the 20 m geosegment height measurements of ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3A Land and Vegetation Height (ATL08). ATL18 is a composite of data over the entire mission, while ATL28 provides monthly data.

Get the data

atl18_access.py

import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="ATL18",
    version="001",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from NSIDC_CPRD

Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.

Official links

A Python library to search and access NASA Earth science data with just a few lines of code GET DATA
Search and order NASA Earth Science data using spatial and temporal filters. Reformatting, reprojecting, and subsetting options are available for some data sets. GET DATA
Quickly download a few files using a web browser, or access data through a command-line utility such as WGET. GET DATA
Search data by spatial and/or temporal ranges or file name. Choose from various download options, including a Python script. GET DATA
Find more data access options and help resources. VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3B Mission Composite and Monthly Gridded Terrain and Canopy Elevation Parameters, Version 1 User Guide VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document (ATBD for ATL18/ATL28 | V1) VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
ATL18/28 Known Issues (V1) VIEW RELATED INFORMATION