The NASA ABoVE Land, Vegetation, and Ice Sensor full waveform LiDAR airborne surveys

Arctic and boreal regions are experiencing rapid environmental changes that include thawing permafrost and increasing disturbances. The NASA Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) sought to better understand these changes through field, airborne, and remote sensing measurements. One key airborne instrument was the Land, Vegetation, and Ice Sensor (LVIS), a wide-swath imaging laser altimeter system. LVIS conducted 32 flights during June-August periods of 2017 and 2019, capturing data across more than 91,000 km² of diverse Arctic and boreal ecosystems. The surface topography and vegetation structure data collected throughout Alaska and Northwestern Canada spans boreal forests to Arctic tundra, crossing 12 distinct ecoregions. This airborne collection enables direct comparison with coincident NASA Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) data, extends research beyond the ~52° N limit of NASA's Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) sensor, and provides precursor data for future satellite missions, such as NASA's recently selected Earth Dynamics Geodetic Explorer (EDGE). We summarize detailed information on LVIS data records from ABoVE deployments, including access and visualization using custom open source tools.