CALIPSO Lidar Level 2 5km Aerosol Layer data, Provisional V3-30

CAL_LID_L2_05kmALay-Prov-V3-30 data are Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) Lidar Level 2 5km aerosol layer data, Provisional Version 3-30. Data collection for this product is complete. Within the Lidar Aerosol Layer Product there are two general classes of data:- Column Properties (including position data and viewing geometry)- Layer Properties. The lidar layer products consist of a sequence of column descriptors, each one of which is 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 science algorithms used to produce the V3.30 CALIOP data products are identical to those used to generate the V3.01 and V3.02 products; however, some of the ancillary data used in the V3.30 analyses is different. All CALIOP data products rely on meteorological data provided by NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO). The V3.01 and V3.02 data products were produced using the GMAO's GEOS 5.2 data products. CALIPSO was launched on April 28, 2006 to study the impact of clouds and aerosols on the Earth's radiation budget and climate. It flies in the international A-Train constellation for coincident Earth observations. The CALIPSO satellite is comprised of three instruments, the Cloud-Aerosol LIdar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP), the Imaging Infrared Radiometer (IIR), and the Wide Field Camera (WFC). CALIPSO is a joint satellite mission between NASA and the French Agency, CNES.