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Full catalog/PACE_OCI_L3M_CLOUD
PACE_OCI_L3M_CLOUD·v3.1·dataset

Cloud thickness and droplet size (PACE)

PACE OCI Level-3 Global Mapped Cloud Optical Properties Data, version 3.1
land NASA OB_CLOUD Level 3 active netCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. Properties of clouds, including how much of the sky is cloudy, whether clouds are water or ice, droplet size, cloud thickness, and cloud-top height, pressure and temperature, as global gridded maps.

How it's made. Built from the Ocean Color Instrument on NASA's PACE satellite, processed into a mapped, gridded (Level 3) cloud product.

How & where you'd use it. Used to screen out clouds when studying the ocean, to examine how clouds affect sunlight and climate, and to pair with ocean-color measurements.

What's measured

Spectral/Engineering › Visible WavelengthsATMOSPHERE › CLOUDSATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD PROPERTIESATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD MICROPHYSICSATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD MICROPHYSICS › CLOUD OPTICAL DEPTH/THICKNESS

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2024-03-05 → ongoing
  • Measured byPACE (OCI)
  • Processing levelLevel 3
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • FormatsnetCDF-4
  • StatusACTIVE

What you can do with it

  • Track deforestation, fire scars and land-cover change
  • Monitor crop and vegetation health (NDVI/EVI)
  • Map how built-up vs. green an area is over time
Official description

The CLOUD data suite provides per-pixel microphysics and macrophysics to support cloud/climate applications. Typical uses: screening clouds for atmospheric correction, evaluating cloud–radiation interactions, and joint analyses with ocean-color variables (e.g., chlorophyll, Rrs). Core geophysical variables in this suite include: - cloud_fraction — Cloud fraction (unitless; range 0–1) - water_cloud_fraction — Water cloud fraction (unitless; range 0–1) - ice_cloud_fraction — Ice cloud fraction (unitless; range 0–1) - cer — Cloud particle effective radius (µm) - cot — Cloud optical thickness (unitless) - cwp — Cloud water path (g m⁻²) - cth — Cloud top height (m) - ctp — Cloud top pressure (hPa) - ctt — Cloud top temperature (K)

Get the data

pace_oci_l3m_cloud_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="PACE_OCI_L3M_CLOUD",
    version="3.1",
    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 OB_CLOUD
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.