Geoscience Laser Altimeter System Validation Experiment

The Campaign

The Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) Validation Experiment was a NASA airborne campaign aimed at calibrating and validating GLAS observations on the ICESat satellite. It involved a single deployment from the Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) during the boreal fall of 2003. NASA's ER-2 was equipped with the Cloud Physics Lidar (CPL), the MODIS Airborne Simulator (MAS), and the MODIS/ASTER Airborne Simulator (MASTER) to collect measurements of cloud and atmospheric properties as well as topography over the Western United States and the Pacific Ocean for validation purposes. GLAS was supported by the NASA ICESat mission.

Additional Notes

GLAS satellite observations are available at NSIDC DAAC. MASTER and MAS observations from the GLAS airborne campaign are available at LAADS and ORNL DAAC, respectively. CPL data can be requested through GSFC.

Repositories

• Unpublished