GloSSAC: A 44-Year Stratospheric Aerosol Climatology

GloSSAC Version 2.21 is a 44-year global climatology of stratospheric aerosol properties. It primarily provides aerosol extinction coefficient measurements at 525 and 1020 nm, synthesized from multiple space-based instruments including SAGE, OSIRIS, and CALIPSO, supplemented by ground-based, air, and balloon-borne data to create a gap-free record. The dataset spans from 1979 onward, with core satellite data covering periods through mid-2005 and from mid-2017.

Use Cases

• Analyzing long-term trends in stratospheric aerosol loading based on extinction coefficient measurements.
• Studying the climatic impact of major volcanic eruptions using the global, gap-free aerosol record.
• Validating and improving atmospheric chemistry and climate models with observational aerosol data.
• Investigating the spatial distribution of aerosols in the stratosphere from the merged satellite and in-situ measurements.

Strengths

• Provides a 44-year continuous record, a long temporal baseline for climate studies.
• Integrates data from multiple instrument platforms (SAGE, OSIRIS, CALIPSO) and in-situ sources to create a gap-free global product.
• Cross-platform presence on NASA Earthdata and Data.gov signals its importance and curation as a reference dataset.

Limitations

• Column names and detailed schema are not provided in the available metadata, limiting precise understanding of data structure.
• Conflicting metadata exists for 'last updated' dates (2026-04-10 and 2022-12-31), creating uncertainty about data freshness.
• The dataset's size and row counts are unknown across all sources, complicating assessment of its scale and handling requirements.

Provenance

Source

LARC_ASDC (NASA Langley Research Center Atmospheric Science Data Center)

Collection Method

Synthesized from the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) series, Optical Spectrograph and InfraRed Imager System (OSIRIS), Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO), and other space, ground, air, and balloon instruments.

Time Range

44 years (approximately 1979 to 2023, inferred from 44-year span and update year)

Freshness

2026-04-10 02:41:21.519850

Geography

Global