The CALIPSO Mission

Aerosols and clouds have important effects on Earth's climate through their effects on the radiation budget and the cycling of water between the atmosphere and Earth's surface. Limitations in our understanding of the global distribution and properties of aerosols and clouds are partly responsible for the current uncertainties in modeling the global climate system and predicting climate change. The CALIPSO satellite was developed as a joint project between NASA and the French space agency CNES to provide needed capabilities to observe aerosols and clouds from space. CALIPSO carries CALIOP, a two-wavelength, polarization-sensitive lidar, along with two passive sensors operating in the visible and thermal…

• NA
  National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• CI
  California Institute of Technology
• CN
  Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales
• CN
  Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
• JP
  Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• IN
  Institut national des sciences de l'Univers