BackInstrument:  EDGE LIDAR 

Instrument details
Acronym EDGE LIDAR
Full name Earth Dynamics Geodetic Explorer LIDAR
Purpose To measure the surface topography accurately for many applications including crop yield, water resources and ice coverage.
Short description

To maximise coverage EDGE splits each of 5 lasers into an 8-beam mini-swath.

Accuracy (< 3 m horizontal and < 8 cm vertical on low slopes)
Background
  • Based on heritage of ISS GEDI laser
Scanning Technique
  • Solid-state scanning
Resolution
Coverage / Cycle 90 day repeat track 600 m swath
Mass 1038 kg Power 1275 W Data Rate 300 GB per day

 

Providing Agency NASA
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 2030 to 2033
Last update: 2026-02-16
Detailed characteristics
Satellites this instrument is flying on

Note: a red tag indicates satellites no longer operational, a green tag indicates operational satellites, a blue tag indicates future satellites

Instrument classification
  • Earth observation instrument
  • Active and radio-occultation sensor
  • Lidar (Doppler lidar, backscatter lidar, lidar Dial, lidar altimeter)
WIGOS Subcomponents
  • Subcomponent 2
  • Lidar (single wavelength) (in addition to radar missions mentioned in Component 1)
  • Lidar (Altimeter - for surface)
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Biomass
  • Glacier topography
  • Land surface topography
  • Sea-ice surface characteristics
  • Vegetation type
  • Water level
Evaluation of Measurements

The following list indicates which measurements can typically be retrieved from this category of instrument. To see a full Gap Analysis by Variable, click on the respective variable.

Note: table can be sorted by clicking on the column headers
Note: * Primary mission objective.
VariableRelevance for measuring this variableOperational limitationsExplanation
Aerosol column burden3 - highCloud sensitive.Opportunity information from lidar altimeter
Aerosol mass mixing ratio3 - highCloud sensitive.Opportunity information from lidar altimeter
Aerosol Optical Depth3 - highCloud sensitive.Opportunity information from lidar altimeter
Biomass*1 - primaryCloud sensitive.. Index only.. Infrequent coverage.Specifically designed for canopy mapping
Cloud drop effective radius5 - marginalLow-density cloud only.. Infrequent coverage.Opportunity information from multi-beam lidar altimeter. Mapping capability.
Cloud ice5 - marginalLow-density cloud only.. Infrequent coverage.Opportunity information from multi-beam lidar altimeter. Mapping capability.
Cloud ice Total Column5 - marginalLow-density cloud only.. Infrequent coverage.Opportunity information from multi-beam lidar altimeter. Mapping capability.
Cloud ice effective radius5 - marginalLow-density cloud only.. Infrequent coverage.Opportunity information from multi-beam lidar altimeter. Mapping capability.
Cloud liquid water (CLW)5 - marginalLow-density cloud only.. Infrequent coverage.Opportunity information from multi-beam lidar altimeter. Mapping capability.
Cloud liquid water (CLW) total column5 - marginalLow-density cloud only.. Infrequent coverage.Opportunity information from multi-beam lidar altimeter. Mapping capability.
Cloud optical depth1 - primaryLow-density cloud only.. Infrequent coverage.Opportunity information from multi-beam lidar altimeter. Mapping capability.
Cloud top height1 - primaryInfrequent coverage.Opportunity information from multi-beam lidar altimeter. Mapping capability.
Coastal sea level (tide)4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.Opportunity information from multi-beam lidar altimeter (for canopy mapping)
Freezing level height in clouds5 - marginalLow-density cloud only.. Infrequent coverage.Opportunity information from multi-beam lidar altimeter. Detected as discontinuity. Mapping capability
Geoid2 - very highLong time series needed.Geoid derived from multi-temporal analysis of lidar altimetry data
Glacier topography*1 - primaryCloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.Mainly designed for canopy. Mapping capability
Gravity field4 - fairPartial information (geoid).Gravity field derived from multi-temporal analysis of lidar altimetry data
Height of the top of PBL2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.Opportunity information from lidar altimeter. PBL top detected as discontinuity. Mapping capability
Height of the tropopause3 - highCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.Opportunity information from from lidar altimeter. Tropopause height detected as discontinuity. Mapping capability
Ice sheet topography1 - primaryCloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.Mainly designed for canopy. Mapping capability
Land surface topography*1 - primaryCloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.Mainly designed for canopy. Mapping capability
Melting layer depth in clouds3 - highLow-density cloud only.. Infrequent coverage.Opportunity information from lidar altimeter. Detected as discontinuity. Mapping capability
Ocean dynamic topography4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Long time for mapping.Opportunity information from multi-beam lidar altimeter (for canopy mapping)
PSC occurrence1 - primaryInfrequent coverage.NIR lidar altimeter, multi-beam. Mapping capability
Sea-ice freeboard1 - primaryCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.NIR lidar altimeter, multi-beam, mainly designed for canopy, but also usable for ice elevation. Mapping capability
Sea-ice thickness1 - primaryCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Change detection only.NIR lidar altimeter, multi-beam, mainly designed for canopy, but also usable for ice elevation. Mapping capability. Thickness inferred by ice model
Aerosol volcanic ash3 - highCloud sensitive.Opportunity information from lidar altimeter
Aerosol volcanic ash Total Column3 - highCloud sensitive.Opportunity information from lidar altimeter