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Full catalog/CAL_LID_L2_05kmAPro-Standard-V4-51
CAL_LID_L2_05kmAPro-Standard-V4-51·vV4-51·dataset

Haze, dust and smoke layers by altitude (CALIPSO)

CALIPSO Lidar Level 2 Aerosol Profile, V4-51
atmosphere NASA LARC_CLOUD Level 2 HDF4
In plain English

What it measures. Vertical profiles of aerosols in the air, that is, layers of dust, smoke, haze and other tiny airborne particles, showing where they sit by altitude.

How it's made. Derived from the CALIOP laser (lidar) instrument on the CALIPSO satellite, which sends light pulses down through the atmosphere and measures what bounces back, processed into profiles.

How & where you'd use it. Helps scientists understand how aerosols and clouds affect climate and the balance of energy entering and leaving Earth.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › AEROSOLSATMOSPHERE › AEROSOLS › AEROSOL OPTICAL DEPTH/THICKNESSATMOSPHERE › AEROSOLS › AEROSOL EXTINCTIONATMOSPHERE › AEROSOLS › AEROSOL BACKSCATTERATMOSPHERE › AEROSOLS › DUST/ASH/SMOKE

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2006-06-12 → 2023-06-30
  • Measured byCALIPSO (CALIOP)
  • Processing levelLevel 2
  • FormatsHDF4
  • StatusCOMPLETE

What you can do with it

  • Map air pollutants — NO₂, aerosols, ozone
  • Track greenhouse gases and Earth's energy budget
  • Feed weather and air-quality analysis
Official description

CAL_LID_L2_05kmAPro-Standard-V4-51 is the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) Lidar Level 2 Aerosol Profile, Version 4-51 data product. Data for this product was collected using the CALIPSO Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) instrument. The CALIPSO satellite comprises three instruments: CALIOP, Imaging Infrared Radiometer (IIR), and Wide Field Camera (WFC). CALIPSO is a joint satellite mission between NASA and the French Agency CNES (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales). CALIPSO was launched on April 28, 2006, to study the impact of clouds and aerosols on the Earth's radiation budget and climate. From June 13, 2006, to September 13, 2018, CALIPSO was part of the A-Train constellation for coincident Earth Observations. After September 13, 2018, the satellite was lowered from 705 to 688 km to resume flying in formation with CloudSat, heretofore called the C-Train.

Get the data

cal_lid_l2_05kmapro-standard-v4-51_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="CAL_LID_L2_05kmAPro-Standard-V4-51",
    version="V4-51",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from LARC_CLOUD
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.