Aerosol column burden | 3 - high | Cloud sensitive.. Along-track only. | Opportunity information from lidar altimeter |
Aerosol mass mixing ratio | 3 - high | Cloud sensitive.. Along-track only. | Opportunity information from lidar altimeter |
Aerosol Optical Depth | 3 - high | Cloud sensitive.. Along-track only. | Opportunity information from lidar altimeter |
Biomass | 2 - very high | Cloud sensitive.. Index only.. Along-track only. | Total biomass inferred from the canopy |
Cloud drop effective radius | 5 - marginal | Low-density cloud only.. Along-track only. | Opportunity information from lidar altimeter |
Cloud ice | 5 - marginal | Low-density cloud only.. Along-track only. | Opportunity information from lidar altimeter |
Cloud ice Total Column | 5 - marginal | Low-density cloud only.. Along-track only. | Opportunity information from lidar altimeter |
Cloud ice effective radius | 5 - marginal | Low-density cloud only.. Along-track only. | Opportunity information from lidar altimeter |
Cloud liquid water (CLW) | 5 - marginal | Low-density cloud only.. Along-track only. | Opportunity information from lidar altimeter |
Cloud liquid water (CLW) total column | 5 - marginal | Low-density cloud only.. Along-track only. | Opportunity information from lidar altimeter |
Cloud optical depth | 1 - primary | Low-density cloud only.. Along-track only. | Opportunity information from lidar altimeter |
Cloud top height | 1 - primary | Along-track only. | Opportunity information from lidar altimeter |
Coastal sea level (tide)* | 5 - marginal | Cloud sensitive.. Along-track only. | Opportunity information from sea-ice lidar altimeter |
Freezing level height in clouds | 5 - marginal | Low-density cloud only.. Along-track only. | Opportunity information from lidar altimeter. Detected as discontinuity |
Geoid* | 2 - very high | Long time series needed.. Along-track only. | Geoid derived from multi-temporal analysis of lidar altimetry data |
Glacier topography | 1 - primary | Cloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Along-track only. | Specifically designed for sea ice elevation, also useful over land |
Gravity field* | 4 - fair | Partial information (geoid). | Gravity field derived from multi-temporal analysis of lidar altimetry data |
Height of the top of PBL | 3 - high | Cloud sensitive.. Along-track only. | Opportunity information from lidar altimeter. PBL top detected as discontinuity |
Height of the tropopause | 3 - high | Cloud sensitive.. Along-track only. | Opportunity information from lidar altimeter. Tropopause height detected as discontinuity |
Ice sheet topography* | 1 - primary | Cloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Along-track only. | Specifically designed for sea ice elevation, also useful over land |
Land surface topography | 1 - primary | Cloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Along-track only. | Specifically designed for sea ice elevation, also useful over land |
Melting layer depth in clouds | 5 - marginal | Low-density cloud only.. Along-track only. | Opportunity information from lidar altimeter. Detected as discontinuity |
Ocean dynamic topography* | 5 - marginal | Cloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Along-track only. | Opportunity information from sea-ice lidar altimeter |
PSC occurrence | 1 - primary | Along-track only. | NIR lidar altimeter |
Aerosol volcanic ash | 3 - high | Cloud sensitive.. Along-track only. | Opportunity information from lidar altimeter |
Aerosol volcanic ash Total Column | 3 - high | Cloud sensitive.. Along-track only. | Opportunity information from lidar altimeter |
Sea-ice elevation* | 1 - primary | Cloud sensitive.. Along-track only. | NIR lidar altimeter specifically designed for ice elevation |
Sea-ice thickness* | 1 - primary | Cloud sensitive.. Change detection only.. Along-track only. | NIR lidar altimeter specifically designed for ice elevation. Thickness inferred by ice model |