Global satellite data subset provides aerosol optical properties, mass concentration, and ancillary parameters along the CloudSat satellite's flight track. The subset is derived from the MODIS/Aqua Level-2 atmospheric aerosol product, preserving all along-track pixels and selecting a cross-track swath approximately 20 km wide. The dataset was produced by the GES DISC organization and last updated in February 2018.
Use Cases
- Analyze aerosol optical thickness values to study regional pollution or dust transport events.
- Correlate aerosol size distribution parameters with CloudSat cloud profile data for aerosol-cloud interaction studies.
- Use quality assurance flags to filter data for reliable analysis of aerosol properties over land and ocean.
- Map mass concentration values along the CloudSat track to visualize particulate matter plumes.
- Utilize ancillary parameters like reflected and transmitted fluxes for radiative transfer modeling.
Strengths
- Provides global coverage over ocean and near-global coverage over land.
- Cross-track subset width is defined as approximately 20 km, focusing data along a specific satellite track.
Limitations
- Data recency is limited, with last update recorded in 2018.
- Cross-track swath width is approximately 20 km, which may be too narrow for some regional-scale analyses.
- Specific row count, column details, and sample size metrics are unavailable for assessment.
Provenance
- Source
- NASA MODIS/Aqua satellite instrument, processed by GES DISC.
- Collection Method
- Subset created from the standard MODIS Level-2 aerosol product (MYD04_L2) by selecting pixels within approximately 20 km cross-track width along the CloudSat field of view.
- Time Range
- null
- Freshness
- null
- Geography
- Global over ocean, near-global over land.