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Other Data: LIDAR

Monthly mat files from Caliop Data

To get these data, please click on the file name(s) that you have selected and save locally on your computer.
The tar files contain day (D) or night (N) mat files for each month for the indicated year.


Data Selection

Annual Tar Files (Day)

lidar.2008.D.mat.tar • 2008 Day data: ~ 399 MB
lidar.2009.D.mat.tar • 2009 Day data: ~ 403 MB
lidar.2010.D.mat.tar • 2010 Day data: ~ 414 MB
lidar.2011.D.mat.tar • 2011 Day data: ~ 414 MB
lidar.2012.D.mat.tar • 2012 Day data: ~ 430 MB
lidar.2013.D.mat.tar • 2013 Day data: ~ 389 MB
lidar.2014.D.mat.tar • 2014 Day data: ~ 390 MB
lidar.2015.D.mat.tar • 2015 Day data: ~ 389 MB
lidar.2016.D.mat.tar • 2016 Day data: ~ 354 MB
lidar.2017.D.mat.tar • 2017 Day data: ~ 122 MB

Annual Tar Files (Night)

lidar.2008.N.mat.tar • 2008 Night data: ~ 387 MB
lidar.2009.N.mat.tar • 2009 Night data: ~ 313 MB
lidar.2010.N.mat.tar • 2010 Night data: ~ 295 MB
lidar.2011.N.mat.tar • 2011 Night data: ~ 308 MB
lidar.2012.N.mat.tar • 2012 Night data: ~ 342 MB
lidar.2013.N.mat.tar • 2013 Night data: ~ 298 MB
lidar.2014.N.mat.tar • 2014 Night data: ~ 305 MB
lidar.2015.N.mat.tar • 2015 Night data: ~ 302 MB
lidar.2016.N.mat.tar • 2016 Night data: ~ 272 MB
lidar.2017.N.mat.tar • 2017 Night data: ~ 95 MB

lidar mat file naming convention

lidar_yyyy-mm_T.mat

lidar = particulate back scatter from lidar data
yyyy = year
mm = month of year
T = D (daytime coverage) or N (nighttime coverage)
mat = matlab file type

each mat file contains these variables:

bbp = bbp (532nm) from lidar data
lat = lidar latitude
lon = lidar longitude
time = lidar profile time in matlab time format

For citation, please reference the Ocean Productivity site for the data.


Subsets of these data were used in the following papers:

Geophysical Research Letters, 2021

KM Bisson, E Boss, PJ Werdell…

Particulate Backscattering in the Global Ocean: A Comparison of Independent Assessments


Nature, 2019

MJ Behrenfeld, P Gaube, A Della Penna, RT O'Malley…

Global satellite-observed daily vertical migrations of ocean animals




Last modified: 25 April 2022
by:  Robert O'Malley

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