The CALIPSO mission that analysed climate, weather, and air quality ended, the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced recently.
- CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol LIDAR and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations) is a
mission dedicated to studying how clouds and aerosols impact the Earth’s climate. - It is a joint project between NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and
CNES (Centre National d’Études Spatiales), the French space agency. - Launched in 2006, CALIPSO is a satellite-based observatory.
- Scientists are using data from CALIPSO to construct 3D models of the atmosphere that
improve our ability to predict future climate change. - CALIPSO has been part of a constellation of spacecraft called the “A-Train,” including
Aqua, Aura, and PARASOL spacecraft, dedicated to studying the Earth’s weather and
environment. - It carries CALIOP, a two-wavelength, polarization-sensitive lidar, along with two passive
sensors operating in the visible and thermal infrared spectral regions. - The lidar emitted pulses of laser light and measured the amount of light that was
scattered back by clouds and aerosols. This information was used to create vertical
profiles of cloud and aerosol properties, such as their height, thickness, and optical
depth. - CALIOP is the first lidar to provide long-term atmospheric measurements from Earth’s
orbit.