CALIPSO Tropospheric Aerosol Profiles Monthly Gridded Data

CALIPSO's CALIOP instrument provides monthly mean vertical profiles of aerosol optical properties on a uniform spatial grid, focusing on altitudes below 12 km. This Level 3 'All Sky' product, derived from quality-screened Level 2 data, reports aerosol extinction coefficients at 532 nm and aerosol optical depth (AOD). The dataset, part of the A-Train constellation since CALIPSO's 2006 launch, includes profiles for all aerosols and specifically for mineral dust, with data categorized by sky conditions.

Use Cases

• Analyzing vertical distribution of aerosol extinction coefficient at 532 nm to model atmospheric radiative transfer.
• Tracking monthly aerosol optical depth (AOD) trends on a global grid for climate change studies.
• Investigating mineral dust profiles separately to study desert dust transport and its impacts.
• Comparing aerosol properties under different sky conditions (all, cloud-free, transparent-cloud, opaque-cloud) for cloud-aerosol interaction research.
• Validating and improving global climate models with spatially and temporally averaged satellite lidar observations.

Strengths

• Data is derived from the version 4.21 CALIOP Level 2 aerosol profile product and has undergone quality screening before averaging.
• Provides specific profiles for mineral dust aerosols, classified using aerosol-type flags from the source product.
• Covers a long temporal range from the satellite's launch in April 2006, with data collection now complete.
• Offers data under four distinct sky conditions, allowing for controlled analysis of cloud effects.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, column names, and precise file size are unavailable from the provided sources.
• Data is restricted to the troposphere, with profiles reported only below 12 km altitude.
• The license is listed as 'other-license-specified', requiring users to review specific terms.

Provenance

Source

Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) mission, Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) instrument.

Collection Method

Satellite lidar observations processed into monthly mean profiles on a uniform grid, derived from Level 2 aerosol profile product.

Time Range

From April 28, III (launch) onwards, with data collection for this product stated as complete.

Freshness

2026-03-13 07:15:43.854500

Geography

Global, from the CALIPSO satellite in the A-Train constellation.