CALIPSO Lidar Merged Cloud and Aerosol Layer Profiles

CALIPSO satellite data provides merged cloud and aerosol layer profiles at a 333-meter vertical resolution. The dataset is produced by NASA and the French space agency CNES from the CALIOP instrument, with continuous global observations starting in 2006. Version 4-51 data was last updated in mid-2023.

Use Cases

• Classify atmospheric layer types (e.g., aerosol layers) using column descriptors and layer property features.
• Analyze the vertical distribution and optical properties of clouds and aerosols from layer descriptors.
• Correlate atmospheric features with surface type and lighting conditions using column descriptor metadata.
• Study temporal trends in global aerosol layers by analyzing sequences of column descriptors over the 2006-2018 A-Train period.

Strengths

• Data spans over 12 years of continuous global observation from the CALIPSO satellite mission.
• Provides high-resolution 333-meter merged layer profiles from the CALIOP lidar instrument.
• Jointly produced and validated by NASA and CNES, indicating authoritative provenance.

Limitations

• Specific row counts, file sizes, and complete column schemas are not provided in the input.
• Primary instrument data collection for the core mission ended in September 2018, limiting temporal recency for trend analysis.
• Data structure involves variable-length sequences (layer descriptors per column), which may require specialized parsing.

Provenance

Source

NASA's Langley Research Center Atmospheric Science Data Center (LARC_ASDC), from the CALIPSO satellite mission.

Collection Method

Collected by the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) instrument on the CALIPSO satellite.

Time Range

Launch on April 28, 2006; core A-Train constellation observations from June 13, 2006, to September 13, 2018.

Freshness

Dataset metadata indicates a last update date of 2023-06-30.

Geography

Global coverage from satellite orbits.