The Cloudsat cloud profiling radar (CPR) and the Calipso Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP); hereafter referred as the Lidar) are slated to fly in close coordination with one another when on orbit within the Aqua MODIS swath. The obvious synergy of this combined observational capability is significant. With the ability of the CPR to probe optically thick large-particle layers and the ability of the Lidar to sense optically thin layers and tenuous cloud tops, the two instruments have the potential of providing as complete a picture of the occurrence of cloud and aerosol as has been compiled to date. However, not only do the two instruments sense the atmosphere in different ways, the macroscopic characteristics of the observations such as vertical resolution, spatial resolution, and spatial frequency are quite different from one another. The pointing certainty of the two instruments also adds complexity to combining the two data streams. Our goal is to optimally merge these two data streams in order to produce the most accurate quantitative description of the location of hydrometeor layers in the atmosphere that is possible. Beyond this primary goal, we will also attempt to extract from the combined data streams the degree to which the volumes illuminated by the cloudsat CPR are fully or partially filled by hydrometeors.
Also see the CloudSat Data I/O Interface Specifications