CALIPSO IIR L2 Track: Cloud Emissivity and Particle Data

CALIPSO's Infrared Imaging Radiometer (IIR) Level 2 Track product contains emissivity and cloud particle data for pixels co-located with the satellite's lidar track. The dataset is part of the joint NASA-CNES CALIPSO mission, launched in 2006 to study the roles of clouds and aerosols in Earth's climate. It provides ongoing observations from the A-Train satellite constellation.

Use Cases

• Analyzing cloud radiative forcing based on co-located emissivity and lidar track data.
• Studying cloud microphysics and phase (water/ice) using the reported particle data.
• Validating climate models with long-term, satellite-based cloud occurrence and top property records.
• Investigating the spatial distribution of cloud layers at high, middle, and low altitudes.

Strengths

• Provides long-term data from a mission with a defined launch date (April 28, 2006) and ongoing collection.
• Cross-platform presence on datagov and nasa_earthdata signals its importance and established use in the scientific community.
• Data is co-located with lidar observations from the CALIPSO satellite, enabling multi-instrument analysis.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as column names, row counts, and exact file sizes are not provided in the available sources.
• There is a conflict regarding the mission's status: one source states data collection is 'ongoing', while another states the science mission concluded on August 1, 2023.
• The dataset description from nasa_earthdata refers to a different CALIPSO Lidar (L3) product, creating ambiguity about the exact contents described.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and French Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES)

Collection Method

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

Time Range

2006-04-28 to ongoing (with conflicting end date noted)

Freshness

2026-03-13 07:23:37.540493

Geography

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