CMS: GLAS LiDAR-derived Global Estimates of Forest Canopy Height, 2004-2008

This data set provides estimates of forest canopy height derived from the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) LiDAR instrument that was aboard the NASA Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation (ICESat) satellite. A global GLAS waveform data set (n=12,336,553) from collection periods between October 2004 and March 2008 was processed to obtain canopy height estimates.

Estimates of GLAS maximum canopy height and crown-area-weighted Lorey's height are provided for 18,578 statistically-selected globally distributed forested sites in a point shapefile. Country is included as a site attribute.

Also provided is the average canopy height for the forested area of each country, plus the number of GLAS data footprints (shots), number of selected sample sites, and estimates of the variance for each country.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Maintainer Earthdata Forum
Last Updated June 22, 2026, 21:35 (UTC)
Created April 1, 2025, 15:14 (UTC)
accessLevel public
bureauCode {026:00}
catalog_conformsTo https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
harvest_object_id fceea9ac-afa4-4be6-b180-328630c421a9
harvest_source_id b99e41c6-fe79-4c19-bbc3-9b6c8111bfac
harvest_source_title Science Discovery Engine
identifier 10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1271
license https://www.usa.gov/government-works
modified 2026-06-15T22:16:00Z
programCode {026:000}
publisher ORNL_DAAC
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash 9341a3393de004367749278e5d534ae33309cc001b52d0fcddcc8c44ef30f431
source_schema_version 1.1
spatial ["CARTESIAN", [{"WestBoundingCoordinate": -161.413, "NorthBoundingCoordinate": 69.2936, "EastBoundingCoordinate": 179.893, "SouthBoundingCoordinate": -55.4513}]]
temporal 2004-10-03/2004-11-08
theme {"Earth Science"}