Preliminary development of digital elevation and relief models for ICESat-2 onboard processing

ATLAS (Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System) is a photon-counting laser ranging instrument that will fly onboard NASA's ICESat-2 mission to collect global altimetry data for the primary purpose of determining volumetric changes in the Polar Regions. While photon-counting systems provide the advantage of using small, low power lasers, they are typically much more susceptible to noise and require the use of sophisticated algorithms both onboard and in ground based processing to ensure capture of valid data and production of accurate data products. An onboard receiver algorithm is being developed for ATLAS to ensure that valid data is returned while adhering to the 577 Gb/day limit on data telemetry. The onboard receiver algorithm makes use of multiple onboard databases, two of which are the DEM (Digital Elevation Model) and the DRM (Digital Relief Map). The DEM provides start and stop times for software-induced range gating on the ATLAS detectors, and is a nested, three-tiered grid to account for a 6 km overall constraint on the allowable limit for ranging acquisition. The DRM contains the maximum values of relief seen across 140m- and 700m-long flight path segments, which are used in statistically determining the presence of a valid surface return and in deciding which bands to telemeter. Both onboard databases are to be primarily constructed from existing digital elevation models and must provide global coverage referenced to latitude and longitude. Production of the grids is complicated by the lack of global data products of sufficient resolution and accuracy such that preliminary analysis is required for DEM selection and usage in addition to the determination of how to intelligently merge differing data sets. This initial investigation is also focused on determining the impact of the selected DEM quality on the ICESat-2 onboard algorithms as well as the precipitated error induced on the DRM. These results are required in order to determine the expected acquisition and downlink protocols. Preliminary accuracy studies using ICESat point elevations indicate that regional accuracy affects the accuracy of the DRM to a greater extent than data resolution, and that the accuracy of the DRM is directly correlated to magnitude of relief. The DEM and DRM grids will have a significant impact on the ability of ATLAS and ICESat-2 to acquire and return valid science data, thus it is imperative that they capture the full range of topography in any given area while still keeping with the telemetry constraints on data volume.