News - Wayne RESA
Participating in Trees Around the GLOBE Campaign? Read this Blog: “ICESat-2 Tree Height Data is Now Available...BUT”
Are you participating in the Trees Around the GLOBE Campaign? Then you may want to read the latest GLOBE Community Blog, ““ICESat-2 Tree Height Data is Now Available...BUT,” written by Brian Campbell, NASA Senior Earth Science Education Specialist.
“On May 28, 2019, NASA released ICESat-2 data through the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC),” Campbell explains in the blog, “This height data shows the elevation of ice sheets, sea ice, bodies of water, trees and forests, and much more. What we want for this campaign is to be able to compare student and citizen science tree height data to the ICESat-2 mission tree height data. Although the data is now public, it may not be in a form that is easily used for our comparisons, yet. We will be working with ICESat-2 scientists to determine the best way for us to use the data. Check out some of the tree height and canopy height data at NSIDC.”
People can explore the ICESat-2 (Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite 2) tree height and canopy data through the Open Altimetry Site. “I have created a short introductory video that shows you how to access the tree height data on GLOBE and the height data from ICESat-2,” Campbell said.
(NOTE: A few caveats...1) The ICESat-2 data available right now is slightly delayed. This is called data latency. Once all the data processing catches up, the normal latency for ICESat-2 data from measurement to public release is 45 days. Right now, it is a bit longer, since the satellite is relatively new; 2) Since the satellite is relatively new, we do not have ground tracks that cover everything. There will areas that only receive a nearby ICESat-2 track every so often. All I want to say is to have fun and explore the data.)
“Beginning this Fall, the second year of the Trees Around the GLOBE Student Research Campaign will commence. At this time, we will work with the students and teachers to help them compare their data to that of ICESat-2.”
To read the blog, click here. To learn more about the Trees Around the GLOBE Campaign and ICESat-2, click here.
type: globe-news
News origin: GLOBE Implementation Office