This page provides a list of all data products and versions released to the user community. All information
specific to these products are included in these tables. CALIPSO produces two releases of the data products.
They are: Expedited and Standard.
CALIPSO has developed simple IDL read codes to pull selected parameters from the HDF data files.
The user must edit the files to retrieve the desired parameter(s) from the files. There are
codes available for all of the data sets listed on this web page.
Data Level: Level 1B
Data Description: Half orbit (Night and Day) geolocated, calibrated radiances data
Parameters: Infrared Radiance NOTE: Users are strongly cautioned against using
Expedited data products as the basis for research findings or journal
publications. Standard data sets only should be used for these
purposes.
Data Level: Level 2
Data Description: Half orbit (Night and Day) emissivity and cloud particle data related to pixels that have been co-located to the Lidar track
Parameters: Emissivity, Cloud Properties NOTE: Users are strongly cautioned against using
Expedited data products as the basis for research findings or journal
publications. Standard data sets only should be used for these
purposes.
Data Level: Level 2
Data Description: Half orbit (Night and Day) emissivity and cloud particle data assigned to IIR pixels on a 1 km grid centered on the Lidar track
Parameters: Emissivity, Cloud Properties NOTE: Users are strongly cautioned against using
Expedited data products as the basis for research findings or journal
publications. Standard data sets only should be used for these
purposes.
Data Level: Level 1B
Data Description: Half orbit (Night and Day) geolocated, calibrated Lidar Profiles and Viewing Geometry Products
Parameters: Lidar Attenuated Backscatter NOTE: Users are strongly cautioned against using
Expedited data products as the basis for research findings or journal
publications. Standard data sets only should be used for these
purposes.
Data Level: Level 1.5
Data Description: Full orbit profiles of combined molecular and aerosol total attenuated backscatter
using expedited calibration and geolocation, averaged to 20 km horizontal x 60 m vertical
resolution.
Parameters: Lidar Attenuated Backscatter NOTE: Users are strongly cautioned against using
Expedited data products as the basis for research findings or journal
publications. Standard data sets only should be used for these
purposes.
Expedited Data Set Name
Data Version
Temporal Coverage
Documentation
DPC=Data Products Catalog (Vx.x)
UG=User’s Guide
QS=Quality Summary
Release Date
Maturity Level
CAL_LID_L15_Exp-ValStage1-V3-50 By subscription only.
Data Level: Level 1.5
Data Description: Continuous segment of calibrated, geo-located, cloud-cleared, and spatially averaged profiles of lidar attenuated backscatter.
Parameters: Lidar Attenuated Backscatter
Data Level: Level 2
Data Description: 5 km aerosol layer data
Parameters: Integrated Attenuated Backscatter, Column Reflectance,
Lidar Depolarization Ratio, Aerosol Optical Thickness NOTE: Users are strongly cautioned against using
Expedited data products as the basis for research findings or journal
publications. Standard data sets only should be used for these
purposes.
Data Level: Level 2
Data Description: 1/3 km merged (cloud and aerosol) layer data
Parameters: Integrated Attenuated Backscatter, Column Reflectance,
Lidar Depolarization Ratio, Cloud Base Height, Cloud Top Height, Cloud Midlayer Temperature
Data Level: Level 2
Data Description: 1/3 km cloud layer data
Parameters: Integrated Attenuated Backscatter, Column Reflectance,
Lidar Depolarization Ratio, Cloud Base Height, Cloud Top Height, Cloud Midlayer Temperature NOTE: Users are strongly cautioned against using
Expedited data products as the basis for research findings or journal
publications. Standard data sets only should be used for these
purposes.
Data Level: Level 2
Data Description: 1 km cloud layer data
Parameters: Integrated Attenuated Backscatter, Column Reflectance,
Lidar Depolarization Ratio, Cloud Base Height, Cloud Top Height, Cloud Midlayer Temperature NOTE: Users are strongly cautioned against using
Expedited data products as the basis for research findings or journal
publications. Standard data sets only should be used for these
purposes.
Data Level: Level 2
Data Description: 5 km merged (cloud and aerosol) layer data
Parameters: Integrated Attenuated Backscatter, Column Reflectance,
Lidar Depolarization Ratio, Cloud Base Height, Cloud Top Height, Cloud Optical Depth,
Aerosol Optical Thickness NOTE: Users are strongly cautioned against using
Expedited data products as the basis for research findings or journal
publications. Standard data sets only should be used for these
purposes.
Data Level: Level 2
Data Description: 5 km cloud layer data
Parameters: Integrated Attenuated Backscatter, Column Reflectance,
Lidar Depolarization Ratio, Cloud Base Height, Cloud Top Height, Cloud Optical Depth NOTE: Users are strongly cautioned against using
Expedited data products as the basis for research findings or journal
publications. Standard data sets only should be used for these
purposes.
Data Level: Level 2
Data Description: 5 km cloud profile data
Parameters: Backscatter Coefficient, Depolarization Ratio Profile, Extinction Coefficient NOTE: Users are strongly cautioned against using
Expedited data products as the basis for research findings or journal
publications. Standard data sets only should be used for these
purposes.
Data Level: Level 2
Data Description: Aerosol profile data using the CALIPSO Lidar Ratio selection algorithm
Parameters: Backscatter Coefficient, Depolarization Ratio Profile, Extinction Coefficient NOTE: Users are strongly cautioned against using
Expedited data products as the basis for research findings or journal
publications. Standard data sets only should be used for these
purposes.
Data Level: Level 2
Data Description: Aerosol profile data using the CALIPSO Lidar Ratio selection algorithm
Parameters: Backscatter Coefficient, Depolarization Ratio Profile, Extinction Coefficient
No longer produced. CAL_LID_L2_05kmAPro-Prov-V3-01 (above data sets) takes its place.
Standard Data Set Name
Data Version
Temporal Coverage
Documentation
DPC=Data Products Catalog (Vx.x)
UG=User’s Guide
QS=Quality Summary
Release Date
Maturity Level
CAL_LID_L2_40kmAProCal-Beta-V2-02 No longer orderable.
Data Level: Level 2
Data Description: Vertical Feature Mask
Parameters: Aerosol Particle Properties, Cloud Type, Cloud Particle Phase NOTE: Users are strongly cautioned against using
Expedited data products as the basis for research findings or journal
publications. Standard data sets only should be used for these
purposes.
Data Level: Level 2
Data Description: Polar stratospheric clouds presents, composition, and optical properties. Night time data only.
Parameters: Polar Stratospheric Clouds
Data Level: Level 2
Data Description: Blowing Snow presents, composition, and optical properties. Night time data only. Monthly product over Antarctica.
Parameters: Polar Stratospheric Clouds
Data Level: Level 3
Data Description: Cloud counts partitioned by thermal phase and opacity.
Ice cloud count as a histogram of layer optical depth. Three files: day, night, all.
Parameters: 532nm Total Attenuated Backscatter, Extinction, Aerosol Optical Depth, Ancillary Grid Data
Data Level: Level 3
Data Description: a reformatted version of CALIPSO’s contribution to the GEWEX cloud
assessment of global cloud datasets from satellites. Three files: day, night, all.
Parameters: Climatology, Meteorology, Atmosphere, Clouds, Cloud Amount
Data Level: Level 1B
Data Description: 125 m Native Science data
Parameters: Radiance, Reflectance NOTE: Users are strongly cautioned against using
Expedited data products as the basis for research findings or journal
publications. Standard data sets only should be used for these
purposes.
Data Level: Level 1B
Data Description: 1 km Native Science data
Parameters: Radiance, Reflectance NOTE: Users are strongly cautioned against using
Expedited data products as the basis for research findings or journal
publications. Standard data sets only should be used for these
purposes.
Data Level: Level 1B
Data Description: 1 km Registered Science data
Parameters: Radiance, Reflectance NOTE: Users are strongly cautioned against using
Expedited data products as the basis for research findings or journal
publications. Standard data sets only should be used for these
purposes.
* Dates specified are primary processing range. Some additional orbits may
also be processed for this version.
Standard and Expedited Data Set Definitions
Standard Data Sets:
Standard data processing begins immediately upon delivery of all required
ancillary data sets. The ancillary data sets used in standard processing
(e.g., GMAO meteorological data and data from the National Snow and Ice
Data Center) must be spatially and temporally matched to the CALIPSO data
acquisition times, and thus the time lag latency between data onboard
acquisition and the start of standard processing can be on the order of
several days. The data in each data set are global, but are produced in
files by half orbit, with the day portion of an orbit in one file and the
night portion of the orbit in another.
Expedited Data Sets:
Expedited data are processed as soon as possible after following downlink
from the satellite and delivery to LaRC. Latency between onboard
acquisition and analysis expedited processing is typically on the order of
6 to 28 hours. Expedited processing uses the most recently current
available set of ancillary data (e.g., GMAO meteorological profiles) and
calibration coefficients available, which may lag the CALIPSO data
acquisition time/date by several days. Expedited data files contain at
the most, 90 minutes of data. Therefore, each file may contain both day and
night data. NOTE: Users are strongly cautioned against using
Expedited data products as the basis for research findings or journal
publications. Standard data sets only should be used for these
purposes.
Version 4.x Data Product Production Strategies Definitions (v4.x)
Test:
Preliminary data products for which science algorithms, file contents
and/or file structure are still under development; not publicly distributed.
Beta:
Early release products for users to gain familiarity with data formats and parameters; not generally available for
public download. Products designated as ‘beta’ should not be used as the
basis for research findings or journal publications.
Quick Look:
Very rapid processing to ensure earliest distribution at the expense of some degradation of data quality; calibration
coefficients may be obtained from historical data; level 2 analyses use most recently available ancillary data.
Expedited:
Rapid processing to ensure early availability at the expense of some degradation of data quailty;
calibration and level 2 analyses use most recently available ancillary data, which may represent
conditions several days prior ot the CALIPSO measurements.
Standard:
Highest quality data; ancillary data is spatially and temporally matched to the CALIPSO
measurements, thus guaranteeing the best possible calibration and most reliable level 2 retrievals.
Last Updated: September 09, 2020
Curator: Charles R. Trepte
NASA Official: Charles R. Trepte
