CALIPSO Lidar Level 3 Tropospheric Aerosol Profiles, All Sky Data, Standard V4-21 provides monthly mean vertical profiles of aerosol optical properties on a uniform spatial grid. The data product is derived from the CALIOP instrument on the CALIPSO satellite, a joint NASA and CNES mission launched in 2006. Collection for this version 4.21 product is complete.
Use Cases
- Analyzing vertical profiles of the aerosol extinction coefficient at 532 nm to study aerosol layer height and transport.
- Calculating the aerosol optical depth (AOD) from the vertical integral of extinction for climate forcing assessments.
- Comparing aerosol type and spatial distribution information to differentiate mineral dust from other aerosol species.
- Investigating aerosol properties under four defined sky conditions (All Sky, Cloud-Free, Cloudy-Sky Transparent, Cloud-Sky Opaque).
Strengths
- Data are quality screened before averaging from the version 4.21 level 2 product.
- Profiles provide consistent monthly means on a uniform spatial grid.
- Product includes separate averaged profiles for all aerosols and for mineral dust aerosols specifically.
Limitations
- Data are reported only below 12 km altitude, limiting full atmospheric column analysis.
- The temporal resolution is monthly, which may miss shorter-term aerosol events.
- Specific row counts, file sizes, and spatial resolution details are not provided.
Provenance
- Source
- NASA and CNES CALIPSO satellite mission, processed by LARC_CLOUD.
- Collection Method
- Derived from the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) instrument level 2 aerosol profile product.
- Time Range
- Covers the CALIPSO mission period from its launch on April 28, 2006; specific years for V4-21 are not stated.
- Freshness
- Data collection for this product is complete; last updated metadata indicates 2022-01-01.
- Geography
- Global coverage from the CALIPSO satellite flying in the A-Train constellation.