NASA currently has two active satellite lidar missions in orbit that are collecting 3D Earth surface structure data, GEDI and ICESat-2. The GEDI mission was launched in 2018 and has been collecting near-global forest height and structure measurements with a primary science goal of constraining the global carbon cycle. GEDI’s biomass products use simple empirical models to translate lidar waveforms into estimates of forest aboveground biomass (carbon). GEDI’s products cover the full tropical and temperate forests, and ICESat-2 data has been recently used to extend this to fill the northern boreal data gap for circa 2020 global coverage. Similar statistical techniques have been used for ICESat-2 boreal biomass mapping. This talk will present an overview of current products, their limitations, and next steps toward product improvement and change monitoring with a time series of satellite lidar datasets. Dr. Duncanson is an assistant professor at the University of Maryland, college park. She uses lidar data to understand and monitor forest carbon dynamics at local to global scales. She co-leads the development of empirical biomass models for NASA missions (GEDI and ICESat-2), and is involved in several international efforts aimed at bringing consistency and transparency to the field of remote sensing of forest biomass.
