Assessing the Performance of ICESat-2/ATLAS Multi-Channel Photon Data for Estimating Ground Topography in Forested Terrain

Abstract

As a continuation of Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite-1 (ICESat-1), the ICESat-2/Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS) employs a micro-pulse multi-beam photon counting approach to produce photon data for measuring global terrain. Few studies have assessed the accuracy of different ATLAS channels in retrieving ground topography in forested terrain. This study aims to assess the accuracy of measuring ground topography in forested terrain using different ATLAS channels and the correlation between laser intensity parameters, laser pointing angle parameters, and elevation error. The accuracy of ground topography measured by the ATLAS footprints is evaluated by comparing the derived Digital Terrain Model (DTM) from the ATL03 (Global Geolocated Photon Data) and ATL08 (Land and Vegetation Height) products with that from the airborne Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR). Results show that the ATLAS product performed well in the study area at all laser intensities and laser pointing angles, and correlations were found between the ATLAS DTM and airborne LiDAR DTM (coefficient of determination––R2 = 1.00, root mean squared error––RMSE = 0.75 m). Considering different laser intensities, there is a significant correlation between the tx_pulse_energy parameter and elevation error. With different laser pointing angles, there is no significant correlation between the tx_pulse_skew_est, tx_pulse_width_lower, tx_pulse_width_upper parameters and the elevation error.

Combined Adjustment Pipeline for Improved Global Geopositioning Accuracy of Optical Satellite Imagery With the Aid of SAR and GLAS

“…GLAS data were obtained from the ICESat-2 ATL08 product. The diameter of the laser footprint point is 17 m, the interval along the track is 0.7 m, and the vertical accuracy is better than 1 m [5].…”

“…However, substantial noise within SAR imagery makes matching and three-dimensional geo-positioning difficult. The GLAS can accurately and directly acquire the terrain height through time-delay ranging (e.g., the vertical accuracy of the ICESat-2 satellite is better than 1 m [5]). This situation presents a significant opportunity for an integrated approach to multisource satellite observation data.…”

Forest Terrain Inversion Based on Icesat-2/ATLAS with Different Laser Intensities

“…In 2020, Xing Yanqiu et al used ATLAS multichannel data to assess the ability to estimate forest topography, and the results showed that ATLAS products performed well in the study area at all laser intensities and laser pointing angles. However, the ability to detect terrain under different canopy regimes was not discussed and was refined in this study [9]. In order to investigate whether the accuracy of ICESat-2/ATLAS products for inversion of forest understory topography with different laser intensities can be further improved under different canopy height conditions.…”

A Study of Correction to the Point Cloud Distortion Based on MEMS LiDAR System

“…In the field of active optical imaging, a target was exposed and the backscattered light was detected to extract the depth and spatial information for 3D image formation. Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) systems are one of the most important sensors for 3D optical imaging technology [1,2], which has shown enormous potential in different applications including target recognition, ground surface estimation, robotics, and driving on autonomous vehicles [3][4][5][6][7][8]. Therefore, in order to obtain high-quality target information, it is necessary to select appropriate scanning components to improve the imaging performance of LiDAR, which includes, e.g., a galvanometer scanner [9] or Risley prisms [10].…”