125-meter resolution radiance and bidirectional reflectance measurements are provided across a central 5 km swath, with no spatial interpolation applied. This Level 1B data product was produced by the joint NASA and French CNES CALIPSO mission, with collection completed and a final version released in November 2011. The Wide Field Camera acquired science data exclusively during daylight portions of the satellite's orbit.
Use Cases
- Analyze calibrated radiance values to study the spatial distribution of cloud properties.
- Use bidirectional reflectance measurements to model surface-atmosphere interactions within the 5 km swath.
- Correlate WFC radiance data with coincident observations from the CALIOP lidar and IIR radiometer in the A-Train constellation.
- Employ Orbit Number and Path Number metadata for improved spatial and temporal subsetting of the imagery.
Strengths
- Data collection is complete, providing a stable record for analysis.
- Version 3.01 includes corrected software bugs and new metadata parameters for subsetting.
- Measurements are provided at a native 125-meter spatial resolution without interpolation.
Limitations
- Data is temporally stale, with no updates since the final version in late 2011.
- Spatial coverage is limited to a narrow 5 km swath centered on the satellite ground track.
- Acquisition was restricted to daylight portions of orbits, missing nocturnal observations.
Provenance
- Source
- NASA's CALIPSO satellite mission, a joint project with the French space agency CNES.
- Collection Method
- Data collected by the Wide Field Camera (WFC) instrument during daylight orbital segments.
- Time Range
- Coverage spans from the CALIPSO launch in April 2006 through the end of data collection.
- Freshness
- Final version released November 2011; data collection is complete.
- Geography
- Global coverage along the satellite's ground track, within the international A-Train constellation.