Column - ICESat-2 data processing

Publish Date: 2023-01-03

Preface

In September 2018, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration launched ICESat-2 satellite, carrying the advanced topographic laser altimeter system (ATLAS), which is used to monitor polar ice changes, global vegetation, clouds and aerosols.

In addition to cryospheric data, ATLAS also measures the height of ocean and land surfaces, including forests, snow, lakes, rivers, ocean waves, and urban areas. These additional measurements are useful in a variety of scientific disciplines and for real-world applications. For example, researchers can use forest data to estimate the amount of carbon stored in the world’s forests and to improve wildfire behavior forecasts. They can use snow and river height data to better plan for floods and droughts. And they can use elevation data around volcanoes to more accurately predict volcanic eruptions.

This series is intended to be an introduction (in Chinese) for those who do not have a basic knowledge of lidar point clouds, but would like to conduct research with ICESat-2 data.

All data, tools and code presented in this column are derived and developed from the official materials provided by NSIDC (nsidc.org).

The author has handled global ICESat-2 ATL08 data during her studies, and therefore has made some improvements aiming at data batch processing.

Please visit Zhihu to see the ICESat-2数据分析 column.

https://www.zhihu.com/column/c_1593598182809624576