The following tables list the CALIPSO latest produced versioned data products that are available from the
Langley Atmospheric Science Data Center. To
access the documentation for a particular data product, click
on the name or the description in the table. To order
CALIPSO data products, see the Order Data
web page. The data products are grouped into
the following categories:
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 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 Langley Research Center
(LaRC). Latency between onboard acquisition and analysis expedited
processing is typically on the order or 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.
For example, the file named:
CAL_LID_L2_05kmAPro-Prov-V3-01.2010-04-17T20-09-13ZN.hdf
would contain the following:
Investigation
CAL (CALIPSO mission)
Subsystem
LID (Lidar (Lidar 1.1))
Level
L2
Product ID
05kmAPro
Production Strategy or Release named
Prov (Provisional)
Version
V3-01
Instance:
Date 17 April, 2010 (data measurement date), (2010-04-17)
Time of first record: 20 hour, 09 minutes, 13 seconds (T20-09-13)
Nighttime conditions (N)
The data product version information is defined using the X.YY format, where
X - Major Release Number
tracks a major software release
YY - Minor Release Number
tracks a minor software release, e.g., change in GMAO data version, code or
algorithm updates
Data Maturity Level Definitions (v3.x)
Beta:
Early release products for users to gain familiarity with data formats and
parameters. Users are strongly cautioned against the indiscriminate use of
these data products as the basis for research findings, journal publications,
and/or presentations.
Provisional:
Limited comparisons with independent sources have been made and obvious
artifacts fixed.
Validated Stage 1:
Uncertainties are estimated from independent measurements at selected
locations and times.
Validated Stage 2:
Uncertainties are estimated from more widely distributed independent
measurements.
Validated Stage 3:
Uncertainties are estimated from independent measurements representing
global conditions.
File Naming Convention (v4.x)
The CALIPSO data product naming convention is defined as:
For example, the file named:
CAL_LID_L1-Standard-V4-10.2010-04-17T20-09-13ZN.hdf
would contain the following:
Investigation
CAL (CALIPSO mission)
Subsystem
LID (Lidar)
Level
L1
Product ID
none for level 1 data
Production Strategy
Standard
Version
V4-10
Instance:
Date 17 April, 2010 (data measurement date), (2010-04-17)
Time of first record: 20 hour, 09 minutes, 13 seconds (T20-09-13)
Nighttime conditions (N)
The data product version information is defined using the X.YY format, where
X - Major Release Number
tracks a major software release
YY - Minor Release Number
tracks a minor software release, e.g., change in GMAO data version, code or
algorithm updates
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 pubilcly 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 quality; calibration and level 2 analyses use most
recently available ancillary data, which may represent conditions
several days prior to 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: July 21, 2021
Curator: Charles R. Trepte
NASA Official: Charles R. Trepte
