2018 USGS Lidar: North Slope, AK - QL2 Point Cloud files with Vertical Datum North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD88) using GEOID12B

Below are links to the files that make up the 2018 USGS Lidar: North Slope, AK - QL2 dataset.

Vertical datum	North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD88) using GEOID12B in meters
Horizontal projection/datum	NAD83(2011) / Alaska Albers

Informational files are listed first (such as geospatial indices, metadata, and so on), followed by the files. To download in bulk, it is suggested you use a download manager such as wget, uget, or filezilla for example. The geospatial index file in shapefile format also has a URL attribute that some GIS programs can use to download files. You can also subset the data, make derived products, and change projection, datum, etc., using the Digital Coast Data Access Viewer (add to cart, the link to bulk download will take you here).

The files are in LAZ format, a lossless compressed version of the ASPRS LAS format. The compression and decompression can be done with the free and open source 'laszip' program available at https://rapidlasso.de/laszip/ (source at https://github.com/LASzip/LASzip). This is not the same as the more general zip format. You may also want to try the uGet program using the list of URLs in file urllist_2018_USGS_AK_northSlope_QL2_m9198.txt. Several posts on the GeoZone blog provide help with downloading, including:

Example to download entire data set using wget (note: sufficiently new and trusted pre-compiled Windows versions can be hard to find):
wget -np -r -nH -L --cut-dirs=2 https://noaa-nos-coastal-lidar-pds.s3.amazonaws.com/laz/geoid12b/9198/index.html/
This will give you the directory structure starting with geoid12b. Modify the --cut-dirs=2 argument to modify the start directory (e.g. --cut-dirs=4 will start at $missionid). Wget is a command-line program and the output will be to the directory you run it in. More options and information can be found at https://www.gnu.org/software/wget/manual/wget.html. The other options in the example mean:

-np = don't grab the parent directory
-r = recursive (descend into directories)
-nH = don't generate host-prefixed directories
-L = follow relative links only (so you don't download wget just because it's linked here)

If you have problems with wget that look like an authorization or certificate issue, you may need to add the option "--no-check-certificate". Windows users may want to install the Windows Subsystem for Linux to get a current wget.

The total size to download all the files is 33G. There are 5651 LAZ files and the summary class table is:

Class Number	Class Name	Points
1	Unclassified	3458057384
2	Ground	2342040523
3	Low Vegetation	28261670
4	Medium Vegetation	8684619
5	High Vegetation	1853712
6	Building	2830120
7	Low Point (noise)	163071355
9	Water	389276510
17	Bridge Deck	364
20	Ignored Ground (near breakline)	5635912
21	Snow	52431