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Description

This data set (ATL02) contains science unit-converted, time-ordered telemetry data, calibrated for instrument effects, downlinked from the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS) instrument on board the Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) observatory. The data are used by the ATLAS/ICESat-2 Science Investigator-led Processing System (SIPS) for system–level, quality control analysis and as source data for ATLAS/ICESat-2 Level-2 products and the Precision Orbit Determination (POD) and Precision Pointing Determination (PPD) computations.

Version Description

Changes for this version include:
  • Changed transmit/receive optical misalignment calculation to use the history of the Alignment Monitoring Control System (AMCS) calibration results rather than the control loop setpoints. This is due to a change in operational practice where the AMCS setpoint is now updated only after yaw flips and misalignment is allowed to drift more than previously.
  • Added functionality to detect and correct start event/return event (TX/RX) slips; This includes discarding data from some shots and major frames and re-associating affected transmit and receive events. This is done as TX/RX slips caused prolonged errors in time-of-flight computation.

Product Summary

Platforms
ICESat-2
Instruments
ATLAS
Spatial Extent

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

Spatial Reference System(s)
WGS 84 (EPSG:4326)
Location
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
CARTESIAN
Temporal Extent
2018-10-13 to 2023-01-01
Concept ID
C2153572246-NSIDC_CPRD
Data State
DEPRECATED
Number of Files/Granules
0
Processing Level
1B
Published
Science Keywords
Sensor Characteristics

Citation

Citation is critically important for dataset documentation and discovery. This dataset is openly shared, without restriction, in accordance with the EOSDIS Data Use and Citation Guidance.

Copy Citation

Martino, A., Bock, M., Gosmeyer, C., Field, C., Neumann, T., Hancock, D., Jones III, R., Dabney, P., Webb, C., & Lee, J. (2021). ATLAS/ICESat-2 L1B Converted Telemetry Data, Version 5 [Data set]. NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/ATLAS/ATL02.005 Date Accessed: 2026-06-15

Documents

Publications Citing This Dataset

Filters
Title Year Author Topic
Retrieving Telemetry Range from ICESat-2 Data by a No-Prior-Terrain Onboard Filtering Algorithm Sun, Yuan, Xie, Huan, Wang, Chunhui, Xu, Qi, Li, Binbin, Liu, Changda, Ji, Min, Tong, Xiaohua Sensor Characteristics
Instrument radiometric correction of laser signals and background noise for ICESat-2 photon-counting lidar Yang, Jian, Zheng, Huiying, Ma, Yue, Liu, Xinyuan, Li, Song Lidar Backscatter, Cloud Properties, Sensor Characteristics
ICESat-2/ATLAS at 4 years: instrument performance and projected life Martino, Anthony J., Cavanaugh, John F., Gibbons, Aimee C., Golder, James E., Ivanoff, Alvaro, Jester, Peggy L., Kurtz, Nathan T., Neumann, Thomas A., Pingel, Almut M., Swenson, Craig A. Terrain Elevation, Sensor Characteristics
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