GEDI Coverage vs. Full Power Beams

Use this Forum to find information on, or ask a question about, NASA Earth Science data.
Post Reply
LP DAAC - ckrehbiel
Subject Matter Expert
Subject Matter Expert
Posts: 59
Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2019 3:29 pm America/New_York
Answers: 0

GEDI Coverage vs. Full Power Beams

by LP DAAC - ckrehbiel » Tue Feb 09, 2021 4:09 pm America/New_York

User Question from GEDI NASA Earthdata Webinar: Is it necessary to differentiate GEDI data from coverage beams vs. from full power beams?

Tags:

LP DAAC - ckrehbiel
Subject Matter Expert
Subject Matter Expert
Posts: 59
Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2019 3:29 pm America/New_York
Answers: 0

Re: GEDI Coverage vs. Full Power Beams

by LP DAAC - ckrehbiel » Wed Feb 10, 2021 2:18 pm America/New_York

GEDI coverage beams (beams 0000, 0001, 0010, and 0011) were designed to penetrate canopies of up to 95% canopy cover under “average” conditions. For this reason, it is recommended to preference the GEDI full power beams in cases of dense vegetation.

LP DAAC - jwilson
User Services
User Services
Posts: 266
Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2019 12:39 pm America/New_York
Answers: 1
Has thanked: 9 times

Re: GEDI Coverage vs. Full Power Beams

by LP DAAC - jwilson » Fri Jul 29, 2022 9:34 am America/New_York

The LP DAAC is forwarding your inquiry to the subject matter expert for assistance.

chidi_mma
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed May 17, 2023 8:13 am America/New_York
Answers: 0

Re: GEDI Coverage vs. Full Power Beams

by chidi_mma » Sat May 20, 2023 5:48 pm America/New_York

What determines what beams to use and do both type of beam contain different information?

LP DAAC - dgolon
User Services
User Services
Posts: 283
Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2019 10:00 am America/New_York
Answers: 0
Has thanked: 15 times
Been thanked: 2 times
Contact:

Re: GEDI Coverage vs. Full Power Beams

by LP DAAC - dgolon » Wed May 31, 2023 2:31 pm America/New_York

Hi @chidi_mma I have forwarded your question onto our SDLC team. We will post when we have a response.
Subscribe to the LP DAAC listserv by sending a blank email to lpdaac-join@lists.nasa.gov.

Sign up for the Landsat listserv to receive the most up to date information about Landsat data: https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDOIGS/subscriber/new#tab1.

LP DAAC - afriesz
Subject Matter Expert
Subject Matter Expert
Posts: 59
Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2019 4:02 pm America/New_York
Answers: 2
Been thanked: 2 times

Re: GEDI Coverage vs. Full Power Beams

by LP DAAC - afriesz » Fri Jun 09, 2023 5:04 pm America/New_York

@chidi_mma ,

If you haven’t already, I’d encourage you to read the GEDI manuscript written by Ralph Dubayah and others (2020) - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.srs.2020.100002. That may help with some of your questions.
What GEDI beams (power vs coverage) you decide to use is dependent on your research requirements. The data for each beam contains the same type of information, but depending on the local conditions (e.g., whether the observation was during the day or night, the density of the canopy, etc.) the difference between the power and coverage beams may show differences in their accuracies. Each shot contains its own set of QA information, so you can filter poor observations out up front. There are python tutorials that show how to do this (https://github.com/nasa/GEDI-Data-Resources). Following that, you’ll need to make some determinations as to whether the remaining observations are sufficient for your research needs using guidance from the previous manuscript and others (e.g., https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14132969 ).

Post Reply