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The ICESat/GLAS instrument has three lasers, each of which has a 1064 nm laser channel for surface altimetry and dense cloud heights, and a 532 nm lidar channel for the vertical distribution of clouds and aerosols. The three lasers have been operated one at a time, sequentially throughout the mission. To extend mission life, the current operational mode has included 33-day to 56-day campaigns, several times per year.
A metadata table, The Attributes for ICESat Laser Operations Periods, was created in an effort to better educate ICESat/GLAS users on the vertical and horizontal accuracies of the data as well as to provide important information on the laser operating periods and data releases. This table is a single source for much of the important data related to these operational campaigns, and it includes:
Click on one of the links below to download the table in the preferred format:
Please see the YXX Release Numbers Web page for information about a new convention for release numbers in file names that was adopted with Release-28.
The ICESat satellite operates in two attitude modes called airplane and sailboat which were named for the orientation of the satellite's solar arrays. Depending on the position of the spacecraft's orbital plane and the sun, the satellite's attitude is changed from airplane to sailboat to accommodate sun angle changes and for power and thermal stability. For more information, see the ICESat Attitudes document (PDF, 120 KB).
ICESat’s operational periods are summarized in the table below.
For consistent illustrations of the temporal and spatial coverage of ICESat's elevation data, please refer to the global, Antarctic, and Arctic maps (accessible from the View Image links in the table) that show the elevation data. For the elevation maps, the lowest elevations (sea level) are shown in dark blue, and the other colors represent elevations above sea level in 500 m increments (see scale bar). All elevations above 4000 m are represented by a dark red color. White represents areas where no elevation data was obtained; this includes gaps along a single track and between adjacent tracks. Note the relative scale of the polar ice sheets compared to other global, high-elevation land areas; the map projection causes some areal distortion.
| Laser Identifier | Days in Operation | Start Date | End Date | Elevation Map |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 38 | 2003-02-20 | 2003-03-29 | View Image |
| 2A | 55 | 2003-09-24 | 2003-11-18 | View Image |
| 2B | 34 | 2004-02-17 | 2004-03-21 | View Image |
| 2C | 35 | 2004-05-18 | 2004-06-21 | View Image |
| 3A | 37 | 2004-10-03 | 2004-11-08 | View Image |
| 3B | 36 | 2005-02-17 | 2005-03-24 | View Image |
| 3C | 35 | 2005-05-20 | 2005-06-23 | View Image |
| 3D | 35 | 2005-10-21 | 2005-11-24 | View Image |
| 3E | 34 | 2006-02-22 | 2006-03-27 | View Image |
| 3F | 33 | 2006-05-24 | 2006-06-26 | View Image |
| 3G | 34 | 2006-10-25 | 2006-11-27 | View Image |
| 3H | 34 | 2007-03-12 | 2007-04-14 | View Image |
| 3I | 37 | 2007-10-02 | 2007-11-05 | View Image |
| 3J | 34 | 2008-02-17 | 2008-03-21 | View Image |
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