CALIPSO Lidar Merged Cloud and Aerosol Layer Profiles

CALIPSO Lidar Level 2 5 km Merged Layer data provides profiles of atmospheric cloud and aerosol layers. The dataset is produced by NASA and the French CNES from the CALIOP instrument aboard the CALIPSO satellite, launched in 2006. Data collection spans from June 2006 to at least September 2018, with the product last updated in 2023.

Use Cases

• Classify atmospheric layer features (e.g., aerosol layers) using column descriptors and layer properties.
• Analyze the temporal and geophysical location of atmospheric columns for climate trend studies.
• Study surface lighting conditions and surface type indicators for Earth radiation budget modeling.
• Correlate layer properties with viewing geometry data to validate atmospheric models.

Strengths

• Data collection spans over 12 years from June 2006 to September 2018.
• Provides merged cloud and aerosol layer data at a 5 km horizontal resolution.
• Jointly produced by NASA and CNES, leveraging the CALIOP instrument.

Limitations

• Specific row count, column count, and file size are unknown.
• Primary data collection for the A-Train constellation ended in September 2018, limiting recency for current conditions.
• Data structure involves variable numbers of layer descriptors per column, requiring specialized parsing.

Provenance

Source

NASA's Atmospheric Science Data Center (LARC_ASDC) and the French CNES.

Collection Method

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

Time Range

June 13, 2006 to September 13, 2018 (as part of A-Train), with potential data beyond.

Freshness

Product version last updated on 2023-06-30.

Geography

Global coverage from the CALIPSO satellite orbit.