CALIPSO Satellite Aerosol Profiles at 5 km Resolution

CALIPSO Lidar Level 2 Aerosol Profile data provides vertical profiles of particulate extinction and backscatter. The dataset reports profiles at a spatial resolution of 60 m vertically and 5 km horizontally over an altitude range from 30 km to -0.5 km. This product was created by NASA and the French Space Agency CNES using the CALIOP instrument, with the satellite mission concluding in August 2023.

Use Cases

• Modeling aerosol optical depth by integrating particulate extinction profiles vertically.
• Analyzing particulate depolarization ratios to classify aerosol types like dust or smoke.
• Studying vertical aerosol distribution from -0.5 km to 30 km altitude for climate impact assessments.
• Correlating stratospheric aerosol backscatter data above 20 km with volcanic eruption events.

Strengths

• Uniform horizontal resolution of 5 km for global coverage.
• High vertical resolution of 60 m in the troposphere (20 km to -0.5 km).
• Data collected from a dedicated satellite mission spanning from 2006 to 2023.

Limitations

• Vertical resolution degrades to 180 m in the stratosphere (above 20 km).
• Mission concluded in 2023, so data is not updated with current observations.
• Specific row counts and sample sizes for profiles are not provided.

Provenance

Source

NASA and the French Space Agency (CNES) CALIPSO mission.

Collection Method

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

Time Range

Satellite launched April 28, 2006; science mission concluded August 1, 2023.

Freshness

Final data update was in June 2023; the mission is concluded.

Geography

Global coverage from the CALIPSO satellite orbit.