| Summary: | The Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) is the primary instrument for the ICESat (Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite) laser altimetry mission. ICESat was the benchmark Earth Observing System (EOS) mission for measuring ice sheet mass balance, cloud and aerosol heights, as well as land topography and vegetation characteristics. From 2003 to 2009, the ICESat mission provided multi-year elevation data needed to determine ice sheet mass balance as well as cloud property information, especially for stratospheric clouds common over polar areas. It also provided topography and vegetation data around the globe, in addition to the polar-specific coverage over the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.This document describes the detailed design of GLAS Science Algorithm Software (GSAS). The GSAS is used to create the ICESat GLAS standard data products. The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSDIC) distribute these products. The document contains descriptions, flow charts, data flow diagrams, and structure charts for each major component of the GSAS. The purpose of this document is to present the detailed design of the GSAS. It is intended as a reference source to assist the maintenance programmer in making changes that fix or enhance the documented software.
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