# Spaceborne LiDAR altimetry
*methodologies*

Measures surface elevation and vegetation canopy height from photon-counting or waveform LiDAR pulses; good for forest biomass estimation, ice sheet monitoring, and terrain mapping.

## Specifications
- **family**: LiDAR
- **requirements envelope**: {"kind":"geometric","gsd_max":25,"repeat_pass_geometry":false,"polarisation_modes":[]}
- **entity type**: methodology
- **last verified date**: 2026-05-22
- **verified by**: sw
- **claim status**: unclaimed
- **attributes**: {"family":"LiDAR","summary":"Measures surface elevation and vegetation canopy height from photon-counting or waveform LiDAR pulses; good for forest biomass estimation, ice sheet monitoring, and terrain mapping.","requirements_envelope":"{\"kind\":\"geometric\",\"gsd_max\":25,\"repeat_pass_geometry\":false,\"polarisation_modes\":[]}"}
- **technology**: lidar

## Editorial
Full-waveform or photon-counting systems (GEDI, ICESat-2 style) return vertical structure profiles along ground tracks. Sparse spatial sampling limits area coverage -- complementary to SAR and optical rather than a standalone mapping tool. [Wikipedia: Lidar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidar)

## Sources
- [wikipedia] | Wikipedia: Lidar | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidar | tier=community | accessed=2026-05-22

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Source: https://eo-atlas.org/methodologies/spaceborne-lidar-altimetry
Maintainer: SpectraWorks B.V. (CC-BY 4.0)