Cloud-Aerosol LIDAR and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO): Data Users Guide Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

The extensive global dataset collected by the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) mission continues to deliver new insights into the roles played by clouds and atmospheric aerosols in regulating Earth’s weather, climate, and air quality. CALIPSO was launched on 28 April 2006 with three remote sensing instruments aboard: an active lidar instrument (CALIOP, the Cloud Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization), a three-channel Imaging Infrared Radiometer (IIR), and a single channel wide field-of-view camera (WFC). Following instrument check-out, the mission acquired its first science data on 12 June 2006. Originally designed for a three-year lifetime, CALIPSO continued operating for an astonishing 17 years, making its final observations on 30 June 2023. During that time CALIPSO provided unprecedented measurements of the vertical structure of the Earth’s atmosphere. Until September 2018, CALIPSO flew in the A-Train constellation with CloudSat and MODIS-Aqua, which enabled a wealth of previously unimagined synergies between multiple active and passive space-based sensors. CALIPSO data are publicly available worldwide and have been used in over 5,000 peer reviewed journal papers to advance scientific knowledge of the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, and the cryosphere.