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Full catalog/CAL_LID_L2_05kmCLay-Standard-V4-51
CAL_LID_L2_05kmCLay-Standard-V4-51·vV4-51·dataset

Where cloud layers sit in the sky (CALIPSO, 5 km, V4)

CALIPSO Lidar Level 2 5 km Cloud Layer, V4-51
atmosphere NASA LARC_CLOUD Level 2 HDF4
In plain English

What it measures. A vertical accounting of cloud layers in the atmosphere, listing where each cloud sits along the satellite's track, plus details about the surface and lighting below. It identifies the layers a laser pulse passed through every 5 kilometers.

How it's made. Built from the CALIOP laser (lidar) instrument on the CALIPSO satellite, which fired pulses downward and timed the echoes to locate cloud and aerosol layers.

How & where you'd use it. Used to study where clouds form and how clouds and aerosols affect Earth's heat balance and climate. CALIPSO was a joint NASA-French mission flying in the A-Train satellite formation.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › CLOUDSATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD MICROPHYSICS › CLOUD OPTICAL DEPTH/THICKNESSATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD PROPERTIESATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD TYPESATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD MICROPHYSICS › CLOUD LIQUID WATER/ICE

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_05kmCLay-Standard-V4-51 is the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) Lidar Level 2 5 km Cloud Layer Data, Version 4-51 data product. This data product was collected using the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) instrument. Within this layer product are two general classes of data: Column Properties (including position data and viewing geometry) and Layer Properties. The lidar layer products consist of a sequence of column descriptors, each associated with a variable number of layer descriptors. The column descriptors specify the temporal and geophysical location of the column of the atmosphere through which a given lidar pulse travels. Also included in the column descriptors are indicators of surface lighting conditions, information about the surface type, and the number of features (e.g., aerosol layers) identified within the column. 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, called the C-Train.

Get the data

cal_lid_l2_05kmclay-standard-v4-51_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="CAL_LID_L2_05kmCLay-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.