CALIPSO Lidar Level 3 Stratospheric Aerosol Profiles

CALIPSO satellite data provides global monthly-averaged stratospheric aerosol profiles derived from lidar backscatter measurements. The dataset includes parameters such as 532nm total attenuated backscatter, extinction, attenuated scattering ratios, and stratospheric aerosol optical depths, reported on a uniform spatial grid. It distinguishes between 'background only' aerosol conditions and 'all aerosol' layers, with clouds and polar stratospheric clouds removed.

Use Cases

• Monitoring volcanic aerosol plumes and their climate impact based on global extinction and optical depth measurements.
• Studying long-term trends in stratospheric aerosol background conditions using monthly-averaged backscatter data.
• Validating climate and atmospheric chemistry models with spatially gridded aerosol profile observations.
• Analyzing the radiative forcing of stratospheric aerosols based on derived optical properties.

Strengths

• Data originates from the CALIOP instrument on the CALIPSO satellite, a joint NASA-CNES mission launched in 2006.
• Provides a long-term, global record with monthly temporal averaging, suitable for climate trend analysis.
• Algorithmically distinguishes between background aerosol and all aerosol features, offering refined data products.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are not provided by any source.
• The V1.00 product generation ended on July 1, 2020, limiting its temporal coverage to the period before that date.
• Sources conflict on the 'last updated' date (2026 vs. 2020), casting doubt on metadata maintenance.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

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

Time Range

From satellite launch (April 28, 2006) to July 1, 2020 for the V1.00 product.

Freshness

2026-03-13 07:23:20.481402 (from datagov, though this conflicts with other source dates)

Geography

Global