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Full catalog/GEDI_L3_LandSurface_Metrics_V2_1952
GEDI_L3_LandSurface_Metrics_V2_1952·v2·dataset

Forest height and structure, gridded (GEDI laser)

GEDI L3 Gridded Land Surface Metrics, Version 2
land NASA ORNL_CLOUD Level 3 multiple
In plain English

What it measures. Maps the height and structure of forests worldwide — average treetop height, how much that height varies, ground elevation, and how many laser shots fell in each grid cell — on a 1 km grid.

How it's made. Derived from the GEDI laser instrument on the International Space Station, which fires pulses at the forest and times the returning light, then grids those footprint measurements.

How & where you'd use it. Used to study forest carbon and water cycles, biodiversity and habitat, and to support climate modeling, forest management, and elevation mapping.

What's measured

SPECTRAL/ENGINEERING › LIDAR › LIDAR WAVEFORMBIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › CANOPY CHARACTERISTICSLAND SURFACE › TOPOGRAPHY › TERRAIN ELEVATION

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2019-04-18 → 2025-07-09
  • Measured byISS (GEDI) · MODELS (Computer)
  • Processing levelLevel 3
  • Spatial extent-180, -52, 180, 52
  • Formatsmultiple
  • StatusCOMPLETE

What you can do with it

  • Track deforestation, fire scars and land-cover change
  • Monitor crop and vegetation health (NDVI/EVI)
  • Map how built-up vs. green an area is over time
Official description

This dataset provides Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) Level 3 (L3) gridded mean canopy height, standard deviation of canopy height, mean ground elevation, standard deviation of ground elevation, and counts of laser footprints per 1-km x 1-km grid cells globally within -52 and 52 degrees latitude. These L3 gridded products were derived from Level 2 (L2) geolocated laser footprint return profile metrics from the GEDI instrument onboard the International Space Station (ISS). Canopy height is provided as the mean height (in meters) above the ground of the received waveform signal that was the first reflection off the top of the canopy (RH100). Ground elevation is provided as the mean elevation (in meters) of the center of the lowest waveform mode relative to the WGS84 reference ellipsoid. L3 gridded products can be used to characterize important carbon and water cycling processes, biodiversity, habitat and can also be of immense value for climate modeling, forest management, snow and glacier monitoring, and the generation of digital elevation models. This dataset version uses Version 2 of the input L2 data, which includes improved geolocation of the footprints as well as a modified method to predict an optimum algorithm setting group. The data are provided in cloud optimized GeoTIFF format along with companion files as PNG images and PDF documents.

Get the data

gedi_l3_landsurface_metrics_v2_1952_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="GEDI_L3_LandSurface_Metrics_V2_1952",
    version="2",
    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 ORNL_CLOUD
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.