Example: Reading GEDI Level 2A data in Python

read_gedi.py

import h5py
import pandas as pd
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# read file
file = 'GEDI02_A_2019138044926_O02428_T03843_02_001_01.h5'
f = h5py.File(file, 'r')

# get some variables for BEAM0000 (change to other beam/vars as needed)
elev = f['BEAM0000']['elev_highestreturn'][:]
lat = f['BEAM0000']['lat_highestreturn'][:]
lon = f['BEAM0000']['lon_highestreturn'][:]

# subset transect to specific range of lats
idx = np.where((lat >= 0.0) & (lat <= 21.0)) 

elev = elev[idx[0][0]:idx[0][-1]]
lat = lat[idx[0][0]:idx[0][-1]]
lon = lon[idx[0][0]:idx[0][-1]]

# create a basic plot
plt.plot(lon, elev)
plt.show()

# create a data frame, write it to CSV for mapping in QGIS
df = pd.DataFrame({
	'lat': lat,
	'lon': lon,
	'elev': elev
	})

df.to_csv('gedi_out.csv', index=False)