Cloud and Aerosol Lidar Profiles from the International Space Station

Vertical profiles of atmospheric aerosols and clouds captured by the Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) lidar instrument aboard the International Space Station. The dataset provides geophysical parameters at 60-meter vertical and 5-kilometer horizontal resolution, covering a specific operational period from February 20 to March 21, 2015. It was produced by NASA's Langley Research Center Atmospheric Science Data Center (LARC_ASDC).

Use Cases

• Analyze diurnal changes in cloud properties by comparing backscatter profiles from the same geographic location at different times of day.
• Study the vertical distribution and transport of aerosols like dust or pollution using the range-resolved profile measurements at three wavelengths.
• Validate and calibrate atmospheric models with geophysical parameters derived from Level 1 data at 5 km horizontal resolution.
• Investigate cloud-aerosol interactions by correlating layer data from the 51-degree inclination orbit covering diverse geographic regions.

Strengths

• Provides unique diurnal observation capability from the ISS orbit, enabling day-to-night comparisons.
• Offers high-resolution vertical profiles at 60 meters and horizontal resolution at 5 kilometers.
• Data collected from three distinct lidar wavelengths for enhanced particle characterization.

Limitations

• Very limited temporal coverage of only one month (February 20 to March 21, 2015).
• Spatial coverage is constrained to the ISS orbit path at a 51-degree inclination, missing polar regions.
• Specific data volume, row count, and completeness metrics for the Level 2 product are unknown.

Provenance

Source

NASA Langley Research Center Atmospheric Science Data Center (LARC_ASDC).

Collection Method

Data derived from Level 1 measurements collected by the CATS lidar instrument on the International Space Station.

Time Range

February 20, 2015 to March 21, 2015.

Freshness

Data collection ended on March 21, 2015; it is a historical snapshot.

Geography

Global coverage along the ISS orbital track at approximately 51-degree inclination, between 230 and 270 miles above Earth's surface.