CALIPSO Quality Statements Most Recent Product Releases: June 2009 (Lidar Level 1)

Overall Summary Statement

RELEASE 3. The primary contents of the CALIOP Level 1 product are calibrated profiles of 532 nm perpendicular attenuated backscatter and total attenuated backscatter at 532 nm and 1064nm. The CALIOP Level 1 data are released with a product maturity classification of Validated Stage 1. For this stage, all obvious errors have been identified and corrected, and intercomparisons of attenuated backscatter products have been performed at selected locations and times.

RELEASE 2. The second release of the CALIPSO data are comprised of Level 1 and 2 data from the CALIOP and IIR instruments. Release 2 included initial releases for the Level 2 CALIOP Cloud Profile and Aerosol Profile products and IIR Swath products. Validation of these products is very limited, and the majority of the data products should not be considered to be validated. Release 2 is considered to be a provisional release for the Level 1 data products, in the sense that while all obvious errors have been identified and corrected, only a limited set of intercomparisons have been performed. Various parameters are more or less reliable (explained in some detail in the data quality summaries), but the responsibility is on the user to determine if the data quality is sufficient for his/her purposes.

The Cloud and Aerosol Profile Products were released as Beta products. The primary contents are profiles of cloud and aerosol extinction and backscatter profiles at a horizontal resolution of 5 km (cloud profiles) and 40 km (aerosol profiles). The products contain known errors and invalid data and, in their current form, are not standalone products. The current products contain no data quality information and must be used in conjunction with the Cloud and Aerosol Layer Product and/or Vertical Feature Mask, which contain data quality parameters and confidence flags. Data assessment and screening procedures have not yet been developed. Because of this, the data products are considered to be not appropriate for scientific publication, but are released to users for evaluation and to provide feedback to the CALIOP algorithm development team. Users should carefully read the section of the Data Quality Summaries related to extinction retrievals. QA and validation are ongoing and data quality information will be included with future releases.

RELEASE 1. The initial release of CALIPSO data was comprised of Level 1 data from all three instruments (CALIOP, IIR, and WFC) and a limited set of CALIOP Level 2 Cloud and Aerosol Layer products. Validation of these data is very limited, and the majority of the data products should not be considered to be validated.

Uncertainties for specific parameters are reported in the individual quality statements. Quality designators indicate the maturity of products and individual parameters, and include "Beta", "Provisional", " Validated Stage 1", "Validated Stage 2", and "Validated Stage 3". A product may contain parameters at varying quality levels.

Page Topics:

• CALIPSO Product Organization
• Product Specific Quality Statements
• Page Revision Notes

CALIPSO Product Organization

CALIPSO Products are divided into nine groups:

• Lidar Level 1B Profiles
• IIR Level 1B Radiances
• WFC Level 1B Scans
• Lidar Level 2 Cloud and Aerosol Layer
• Lidar Level 2 Aerosol Profile
• Lidar Level 2 Cloud Profile
• Lidar Level 2 Vertical Feature Mask
• IIR Level 2 Track
• IIR Level 2 Swath

Product Specific Quality Statements

Page Revision Notes

No page revision notes to report.