ASDC | CAL_LID_L3_Tropospheric_APro_CloudySkyTransparent-Standard-V5-00

CALIPSO Level 3

Entry Title: CALIPSO Lidar Level 3 Tropospheric Aerosol Profiles, Cloudy Sky Transparent Data, Standard V5-00

Entry ID: CAL_LID_L3_Tropospheric_APro_CloudySkyTransparent-Standard-V5-00

Aerosols

Description

CAL_LID_L3_Tropospheric_APro_CloudSkyTransparent-Standard-V5-00 is the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) Lidar Level 3 Tropospheric Aerosol, Cloudy Sky Transparent, data product. This data product was collected using the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) instrument. This data product, generated separately between day and night, reports monthly mean profiles of aerosol optical properties on a uniform spatial grid. It is a tropospheric product, so data are only reported below altitudes of 12km. All parameters are derived from the version 5.00 CALIOP Level 2 data and have been quality screened prior to averaging. The primary quantities reported are vertical profiles of the aerosol extinction coefficient at 532 nm and its vertical integral, the aerosol optical depth (AOD). Aerosol type and spatial distributional information are also included. The Cloudy Sky Transparent designate indicates that only level 2 columns containing transparent clouds are averaged.

CALIPSO was a partnership between NASA and the French Space Agency, CNES. CALIPSO was launched on April 28, 2006 to study the many roles played by clouds and aerosols in Earth’s climate and weather. It flew in the international A-Train constellation for coincident Earth observations from launch until September 13, 2018, when CALIPSO began lowering its orbit from705 km to 688 km (428 miles) above the Earth to resume formation flying with CloudSat as part of the “C-Train”. The CALIPSO satellite carried three remote sensing instruments: the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP), the Imaging Infrared Radiometer (IIR), and the Wide Field-of-View Camera (WFC). By mutual agreement between NASA and CNES, the CALIPSO science mission concluded on August 1, 2023.

DOI

10.5067/CALIOP/CALIPSO/LID_L3_TROPOSPHERIC_APRO_CLOUDYSKYTRANSPARENT-STANDARD-V5-00

Citation Styles for this Dataset

Resources and Documentation

Earthdata Forum

PROJECT HOME PAGE

CALIPSO Project Home Page

French (CNES) CALIPSO Home Page

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PRODUCT QUALITY ASSESSMENT

CALIPSO Data Description and Quality Summary – CALIOP Level 3 Tropospheric Aerosol

PRODUCT USAGE

CALIPSO Data Products Catalog - Release 5.00

USER'S GUIDE

From GCMD Science Keywords:

AEROSOLS
AEROSOL OPTICAL DEPTH/THICKNESS
AEROSOL EXTINCTION

532nm Extinction
Aerosol Optical Depth
Aerosol Layer Distribution
Aerosol Subtypes

Data Distribution

File Format(s):

HDF4

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Spatial Information

Spatial Coverage: (S: -90, N: 90), (W: -180, E: 180)
Spatial Coverage Type: Horizontal Vertical
Coordinate System: Cartesian
Granule Spatial Representation: Cartesian

Locations

GLOBAL

Temporal Information

Temporal Coverage: 2006-06-01 - 2023-07-01

Platforms

Earth Observation Satellites

CALIPSO

Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations

CALIOP

Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization

Metadata Dates

Created on 2025-06-27