CALIPSO IIR: Infrared Radiance from the A-Train Satellite

CALIPSO, launched in 2006, provides calibrated infrared radiance data on a 1 km grid centered on its orbital track to study clouds and aerosols. This Level 1B product contains half-orbit geolocated radiances from the Imaging Infrared Radiometer, part of a joint NASA-CNES mission flying in the A-Train constellation. The data is formatted in HDF files and supports research into Earth's radiation budget and climate.

Use Cases

• Analyzing cloud microphysical properties based on calibrated infrared radiance measurements.
• Studying aerosol optical depth and type using co-located lidar and infrared radiometer data.
• Validating climate models with long-term, geolocated satellite observations of atmospheric components.
• Investigating the radiative forcing of clouds and aerosols on a global scale using time-series data from the A-Train.

Strengths

• Data collection is explicitly stated as ongoing, providing a continuous temporal record since the 2006 satellite launch.
• Data is geolocated and registered to a consistent 1 km spatial grid, enabling precise spatial analysis.
• Produced by a joint NASA and French CNES mission, indicating institutional credibility and standardized processing.

Limitations

• Column names and specific data schema are not provided in any source, limiting understanding of the data structure.
• Sources provide conflicting 'last updated' dates (2023 and 2026), creating uncertainty about metadata freshness.
• The license is ambiguously described as 'other-license-specified' without clear terms for reuse.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the French space agency CNES.

Collection Method

Collected by the Imaging Infrared Radiometer (IIR) instrument aboard the CALIPSO satellite.

Time Range

Ongoing collection since the satellite launch on April 28, 2006.

Freshness

Last updated dates conflict between sources: 2023-06-30 on nasa_earthdata and 2026-03-13 on datagov.

Geography

Global coverage along the satellite's orbital track.