NASAVertical profiles of aerosol and cloud distributions from NASA's CALIPSO satellite, enabling 3D mapping of smoke, dust, and pollution layers at global scale since 2006.
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AerosolWatch Datasets
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AerosolWatch integrates aerosol optical depth (AOD) measurements from NASA's AERONET (Aerosol Robotic Network) — a global network of over 500 sun photometer stations — with multi-satellite retrievals from MODIS, MISR, and VIIRS. The combined dataset provides consistent, quality-assured aerosol properties at daily to monthly timescales.
The dataset supports PM2.5 estimation, climate forcing assessments, and satellite algorithm validation. AERONET data is widely used as the primary ground truth for aerosol remote sensing products and has been collected continuously since the mid-1990s.
Learn more
Documentation, algorithm details, and background reading for AerosolWatch.
Download data
Access AerosolWatch through the provider portal or download it directly.
Tutorials
Self-paced tutorials to help you get started with AerosolWatch.
Getting started with AerosolWatch
An introduction to the AerosolWatch dataset — what it measures, how it is produced, and when to use it.
Accessing and downloading AerosolWatch dataFind, subset, and download AerosolWatch data, with tips for common file formats and access tools.
Exploring AerosolWatch in the AIR4US visualization toolLoad AerosolWatch layers in the AIR4US visualization tool and interpret them alongside other air quality data.
Cite this dataset
NASA GSFC. AerosolWatch Datasets. 1993 – Present. Accessed via the AIR4US Portal, https://aeronet.gsfc.nasa.gov.
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