PARASOLRB_CPR: Satellite Radiation Budget Along CloudSat Track

Global satellite data from the POLDER/Parasol instrument provides a 200-km-wide swath of Level-2 radiation budget parameters, collocated with the CloudSat and CALIPSO satellite tracks. The dataset is a processed subset where original binary data in a sinusoidal grid is converted to HDF4 format and re-ordered into an 11-column cross-track array. It preserves all original atmospheric radiation and cloud property parameters for analysis alongside other A-Train constellation observations.

Use Cases

• Analyzing cloud optical depth and thickness using preserved cloud microphysics parameters.
• Studying atmospheric radiation budgets and surface albedo along coordinated satellite tracks.
• Validating climate models with collocated radiation, cloud, and lidar data from the A-Train.
• Investigating spatial patterns of cloud liquid water and ice content from the extracted swath data.

Strengths

• Collocated with CloudSat and CALIPSO tracks, enabling multi-instrument analysis within the A-Train constellation.
• Preserves all original Level-2 parameters from the POLDER/Parasol instrument.
• Provides a consistent cross-track dimension of 11 columns, representing approximately 200 km of spatial coverage.

Limitations

• Metadata completeness is low: column names, row counts, and file sizes are unspecified across all sources.
• Conflicting update dates exist: one source lists a last update in 2010, while others list 2026, creating uncertainty about data currency.
• The specific license is unclear, only noted as 'other-license-specified' without details.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), processed at the A-Train Data Depot of the GES DISC.

Collection Method

Subset created by converting original POLDER binary data to HDF4, calculating CloudSat ground tracks, and extracting the closest grid cells into a linear array.

Freshness

2026-04-09 23:07:09.258078

Geography

Global coverage along the CloudSat satellite ground track.