NASA / NOAADaily global aerosol optical depth retrievals from the VIIRS instrument optimized for retrieval over bright desert surfaces and urban areas using the Deep Blue algorithm.
NASA
CALIPSO: Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder
Back to Data CatalogNASA / NOAA
NASA
NASA
The Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) mission provided the first global, multi-year record of the vertical distribution of aerosols and clouds from space. The payload includes the CALIOP two-wavelength polarization lidar, a wide field camera, and an infrared imaging radiometer.
CALIPSO operated from 2006 to 2023 as part of the A-Train constellation, collecting over 1 billion vertical profiles of aerosol backscatter. The data enables characterization of aerosol type, layer altitude, and optical depth globally — critical for understanding long-range transport of dust, smoke, and pollution.
Learn more
Documentation, algorithm details, and background reading for CALIPSO.
Download data
Access CALIPSO through the provider portal or download it directly.
Tutorials
Self-paced tutorials to help you get started with CALIPSO.
Getting started with CALIPSO
An introduction to the CALIPSO dataset — what it measures, how it is produced, and when to use it.
Accessing and downloading CALIPSO dataFind, subset, and download CALIPSO data, with tips for common file formats and access tools.
Exploring CALIPSO in the AIR4US visualization toolLoad CALIPSO layers in the AIR4US visualization tool and interpret them alongside other air quality data.
Cite this dataset
NASA LaRC / CNES. CALIPSO: Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder. 2006 – 2023. Accessed via the AIR4US Portal, https://www-calipso.larc.nasa.gov.
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