The usefulness of data from CloudSat, CALIPSO and the other satellites of the A-train will be much greater when combined. Observations of the vertical distribution of clouds and aerosols along with other A-train measurements of aerosols, clouds and the amount of radiation received from the sun and emitted by the Earth will allow scientists to better understand the impact of aerosols on climate, and how sources of local pollution affect air quality. The combined measurement set will also provide new insight into the distribution and evolution of clouds over the globe that will lead to improvements in weather forecasting and climate prediction. The data will be used to study interactions between aerosols and clouds that may change the amount of sunlight they reflect and absorb, or enhance or suppress precipitation: subjects of current scientific debate

The CALIPSO payload consists of three co-aligned nadir-viewing instruments; the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP), the Imaging Infrared Radiometer (IIR), and the Wide Field Camera (WFC).

These instruments are designed to operate autonomously and continuously, although the WFC acquires data only under daylight conditions. Science Data are downlinked using an X-band transmitter system which is part of the payload.
 

 CloudSat and CALIPSO will:

- Provide statistics on the vertical structure of clouds around the globe (both missions)
- Provide statistics on the geographic and vertical distribution of aerosols around the globe (CALIPSO)
- Provide estimates of the percentage of Earth's clouds that produce rain (CloudSat)
- Detect subvisible clouds in the upper troposphere and Polar Stratospheric Clouds (CALIPSO)
- Provide vertically-resolved estimates of how much water and ice are in Earth's clouds (CloudSat)
- Detect snowfall from space (CloudSat)
- Estimate how efficiently the atmosphere produces rain from condensates (CloudSat)
- Provide an indirect estimate of how much clouds and aerosols contribute to atmospheric warming (both missions)

 

CALIPSO

www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/calipso/main/index.html

go to the ‘data processing center’ for cloudsat data

email me daleh at daleh.id.au