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Accuracy assessment of ICESat-2 ATL08 terrain estimates: A case study in Spain

ICESat-2 ATL08 地形产品精度验证: 以西班牙为例

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Abstract

The Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2), a new spaceborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) system, was successfully launched on September 15, 2018. The ICESat-2 data increase the types of spaceborne LiDAR data archive and provide new control point data for large-scale topographic mapping and geodetic surveying. However, the accuracy of the ATL08 terrain estimates has not been fully evaluated on a large scale and in complex terrain conditions. This article aims to quantitatively assess the accuracy of ICESat-2 ATL08 terrain estimates. Firstly, the ICESat-2 ATL08 terrain estimates were compared with the high-precision airborne LiDAR digital terrain model (DTM), and impacts of acquisition time, vegetation cover type, terrain slope, and season change on the terrain estimation accuracy were analyzed. We get the following conclusions from the analysis: 1) the mean and RMSE of the terrain estimates of day acquisitions are 0.22 m and 0.59 m higher than that of night acquisitions; 2) the accuracy of the ATL08 terrain estimates acquired in vegetated areas is lower than those in non-vegetated areas; 3) the accuracy of the ATL08 terrain estimates is inversely proportional to the slope, and the elevation error increases significantly when the terrain slope is larger than 30°; 4) in the non-vegetation covered area, the accuracy of the ATL08 terrain estimates of summer and winter acquisitions has no obvious discrepancy, but in vegetated area, the accuracy of winter acquisitions is significantly better than that of summer acquisitions. This research provides references for the selection and application of ICESat-2 data.

摘要

新一代星载激光雷达(Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite-2; ICESat-2)于2018年9月15日成 功发射。ICESat-2 丰富了星载激光雷达数据种类, 为大范围地形制图和大地测量提供了新的控制点数 据。然而, ATL08 地形估计值的准确性尚未在大规模和复杂地形条件下进行全面评估。本文旨在大范 围定量评估ICESat-2 ATL08 地形估计值的精度情况。将ICESat-2 ATL08 地形估计值与高精度机载 LiDAR数字地形模型(DTM) 进行比较, 并分析了采集时间、植被覆盖类型、地形坡度和季节变化对地 形估计精度的影响。通过分析得出以下结论: 1)白天获取的地形产品数据的平均误差和均方根误 差比夜间分别高0.22 m、0.59 m; 2)有植被覆盖地区的ATL08 地形估计值精度要低于非植被覆盖地区; 3)ATL08 地形估计值精度与坡度呈现反比关系, 当坡度大于30°时, 高程误差显著增大; 4)夏季和冬季 获取的ATL08 产品数据的精度在非植被区无明显差异, 而在植被区冬季数据精度明显优于夏季数据。 本文将为用户选取和应用ICESat-2产品数据提供有益指导。

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. China Energy Engineering Group Hunan Electric Power Design Institute Co., Ltd., Changsha, 410007, China

    Jun Zhu  (朱珺)

  2. School of Geoscience and Info-physics, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China

    Pan-feng Yang  (阳攀峰), Yi Li  (李毅), Yan-zhou Xie  (谢雁州) & Hai-qiang Fu  (付海强)

Authors
  1. Jun Zhu  (朱珺)
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  2. Pan-feng Yang  (阳攀峰)
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  3. Yi Li  (李毅)
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  4. Yan-zhou Xie  (谢雁州)
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  5. Hai-qiang Fu  (付海强)
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jun Zhu  (朱珺).

Additional information

Foundation item

Projects(41820104005, 41904004, 42030112) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China

Contributors

The overarching research goals were developed by ZHU Jun, YANG Pan-feng, and LI Yi. ZHU Jun and YANG Pan-feng downloaded the ATL08 data, and analyzed the experimental results. XIE Yan-zhou and FU Hai-qiang conducted the literature review. The initial draft of the manuscript was written by ZHU Jun, YANG Pan-feng, and LI Yi and polished by XIE Yan-zhou and FU Haiqiang. All authors replied to reviewers’ comments and revised the final version.

Conflict of interest

ZHU Jun, YANG Pan-feng, LI Yi, XIE Yanzhou, and FU Hai-qiang declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Zhu, J., Yang, Pf., Li, Y. et al. Accuracy assessment of ICESat-2 ATL08 terrain estimates: A case study in Spain. J. Cent. South Univ. 29, 226–238 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11771-022-4896-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11771-022-4896-x

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