Temporal Resolution of GEDI Data

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LP DAAC - ckrehbiel
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Temporal Resolution of GEDI Data

by LP DAAC - ckrehbiel » Tue Aug 18, 2020 4:52 pm America/New_York

User Question: What is the temporal resolution of GEDI data?

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LP DAAC - ckrehbiel
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Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2019 3:29 pm America/New_York
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Re: Temporal Resolution of GEDI Data

by LP DAAC - ckrehbiel » Tue Aug 18, 2020 4:53 pm America/New_York

Due to GEDI being attached to the International Space Station (ISS), GEDI is not in the more common sun-synchronous or polar orbits, meaning that it acquires data at different times of day and on a non-standard schedule. Thus, the temporal resolution varies with the varying orbit of the ISS, and is location-dependent. There are a higher number of observations as you approach ~51.6 degrees N/S latitude, and decreasing frequency as you approach the equator (with no observations recorded above ~53 degrees N or below ~53 degrees S latitudes). Also, since GEDI is a Lidar sampling mission (with ~25 m shot footprints)--there are no guarantees that a given location will have multiple directly overlapping samples for the entire lifetime of the mission.

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