Measurements and Applications
Provision of data on ice sheet height/thickness, land altitude, aerosol height distributions, cloud height and boundary layer height.
Full Name
Geoscience Laser Altimeter System
Status
No longer operational
Instrument Agencies
Maturity
Instrument Type
Lidars 
Geometry
Nadir-viewing
Instrument Technology
Lidar altimeter
Sampling
Imaging
Resolution
66 m spots separated by 170 m
[Best Resolution: 66m]
Accuracy
Aerosol profile: 20%, Ice elevation: 20 cm, Cloud top height: 75 m, Land elevation: 20 cm, geoid: 5 m
Waveband
VIS - NIR: Laser emits at 1064 nm (for altimetry) and 532 nm (for atmospheric measurements)
| VIS (~0.40 µm - ~0.75 µm) |
| NIR (~0.75 µm - ~1.3 µm) |
ICESat - Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite (2003 - 2010) |