ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3A Calibrated Backscatter Profiles and Atmospheric Layer Characteristics, Version 4
Data set id:
ATL09
DOI: 10.5067/ATLAS/ATL09.004
There is a more recent version of these data.
Version Summary
Version Summary
Changes for this version include:
- Erroneous blowing snow detection was fixed by using an updated ANC30 (NOAA snow/ice maps) file.
- Added new control parameters demtol1 and demtold2 and low-rate segment_id.
- Modified blow_snow to accommodate the new surface signal changes.
- Replaced DDA constant layer_sep with the new constant min_layer_sep.
- Changed values for phi_ocean, asl_cal_factor and snow_age
- Changed the low rate blowing snow implementation to select the profiles used based on wind speed and proper relation to the time of low-rate data.
- Fixed the computation error in total column optical depth to take the cosine of tilt_angle in radians rather than degrees.
- Implemented surface returns based on density, a replacement algorithm for Cloud/Aerosol Determination and detected ground as a layer when computing density algorithm cloud layer confidence
- Improved the algorithm that removes ground surface from cloud layers.
- Added 400 shots to the theoretical background equation.
- Removed unused constant grd_search_width and added new constant min_layer_sep.
- Remove references to GMTED in dem_h and dem_flag.
Overview
This data set (ATL09) contains calibrated, attenuated backscatter profiles, layer integrated attenuated backscatter, and other parameters including cloud layer height and atmospheric characteristics obtained from the data. The data were acquired by the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS) instrument on board the Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) observatory.
Parameter(s):
CLOUD PROPERTIESLIDAR BACKSCATTER
Platform(s):
ICESat-2
Sensor(s):
ATLAS
Data Format(s):
HDF5
Temporal Coverage:
13 October 2018 to 15 July 2021
Temporal Resolution:
- 91 day
Spatial Resolution:
- Not Specified
Spatial Reference System(s):
WGS 84
EPSG:4326
Spatial Coverage:
N:
90
S:
-90
E:
180
W:
-180
Blue outlined yellow areas on the map below indicate the spatial coverage for this data set.
Data Access & Tools
This data set has been retired. There is a more recent version of these data.
Documentation
User Guide
ATBDs
General Resources
Product Specification Documents
Help Articles
General Questions & FAQs
This article covers frequently asked questions about the NASA NSIDC DAAC's Earthdata cloud migration project and what it means to data users.
This short article describes the customization services available for ICESat-2 data using Earthdata Search.
How to Articles
Many NSIDC DAAC data sets can be accessed using the NSIDC DAAC's Data Access Tool. This tool provides the ability to search and filter data with spatial and temporal constraints using a map-based interface.Users have the option to
Harmony API Quickstart Guide: Customizing NASA NSIDC DAAC data in Earthdata Cloud
To convert HDF5 files into binary format you will need to use the h5dump utility, which is part of the HDF5 distribution available from the HDF Group. How you install HDF5 depends on your operating system.
This guide will provide an overview of the altimetry measurements and data sets across the missions, as well as a guide for accessing the data through NASA Earthdata Search and programmatically using an Application Programming Interface (API).
The NASA Earthdata Cloud is the NASA cloud-based archive of Earth observations. It is hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS). Learn how to find and access NSIDC DAAC data directly in the cloud.
All data from the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC) is directly accessible through our HTTPS file system using Wget or curl. This article provides basic command line instructions for accessing data using this method.
This article highlights the NSIDC DAAC data sets available with customization options and outlines a workflow for searching, ordering, and customizing data in NASA Earthdata Search. This approach is ideal for users who want to download data to their local machine.
This webinar introduces the ICESat-2 mission and shows you how to explore, access and customize ICESat-2 data with the OpenAltimetry application, using NSIDC DAAC tools, and shows you how to subset, reformat and analyze the data using Python.