CATS-ISS: Atmospheric Cloud and Aerosol Profiles from Space, 2015-2017

CATS, a lidar instrument on the International Space Station, provided vertical profiles of clouds and aerosols from March 25, 2015 to October 29, 2017. The instrument operated at three wavelengths, orbiting between approximately 230 and 270 miles above Earth with a 51-degree inclination. This Level 2 Operational product contains geophysical parameters derived from Level 1 data at 60m vertical and 5km horizontal resolution.

Use Cases

• Analyzing diurnal changes in cloud and aerosol effects based on observations of the same Earth location at different times.
• Studying vertical profiles of atmospheric properties based on lidar measurements at three wavelengths.
• Modeling cloud and aerosol transport based on data from the ISS orbit at a 51-degree inclination.
• Validating climate models using range-resolved profile measurements from 2015 to 2017.

Strengths

• Provides data from a unique vantage point on the International Space Station, enabling diurnal change studies.
• Offers high-resolution vertical profiles at 60m vertical and 5km horizontal resolution.
• Covers a specific operational period from March 25, 2015 to October 29, 2017.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data collection ended in 2017; freshness should be verified for current applications.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Lidar remote sensing from the International Space Station.

Time Range

March 25, 2015 to October 29, 2017

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 05:50:25.358806; freshness should be verified

Geography

Global coverage from ISS orbit (~230-270 miles altitude, 51-degree inclination).