CALIPSO Monthly Tropospheric Aerosol Profiles From Lidar

CALIPSO satellite data provides monthly mean vertical profiles of aerosol optical properties on a uniform spatial grid, derived from the CALIOP lidar instrument. This Level 3 product reports data below 12 km altitude, generated separately for day and night from version 5.00 Level 2 data. The mission was a NASA and CNES partnership, with science operations concluding in August 2023.

Use Cases

• Analyze vertical profiles of the aerosol extinction coefficient at 532 nm to model aerosol transport and layer height.
• Calculate regional aerosol optical depth (AOD) from the vertically integrated extinction for climate impact studies.
• Investigate aerosol type classifications to differentiate between dust, smoke, and pollution particles.
• Compare day versus night aerosol profiles from the separately generated datasets to study diurnal cycles.
• Map the spatial distribution of aerosols in the All-Sky condition, which includes data regardless of cloud occurrence.

Strengths

• Data is derived from the version 5.00 CALIOP Level 2 data, which has undergone quality screening prior to averaging.
• Provides global spatial coverage from the CALIPSO satellite's orbit.
• Separate generation for day and night conditions allows for diurnal analysis.

Limitations

• Data is limited to the troposphere, with no profiles reported above 12 km altitude.
• The mission concluded in August 2023, providing no data beyond that date.
• Specific row counts, sample sizes, and resolution details for the gridded product are not provided.

Provenance

Source

NASA and the French Space Agency (CNES) CALIPSO mission, processed by LARC_CLOUD.

Collection Method

Collected by the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) instrument, averaged to monthly means on a uniform grid.

Time Range

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

Freshness

Last updated 2023-07-01; mission concluded August 2023, so data is historical.

Geography

Global coverage from satellite observations.