The Global Space-based Stratospheric Aerosol Climatology (GloSSAC) Version 2.24 collection has been released. This version extends the dataset coverage from January 1, 1979, to December 31, 2025, and includes several minor revisions. This release includes the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III on the International Space Station (SAGE III/ISS) version 6.0 and Optical Spectrograph and InfraRed Imager System (OSIRIS) version 7.4.
Data from the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) instrument have been unavailable since January 2022. To close the gap, Version 2.24 uses a two-step approach: SAGE III/ISS data are first temporally interpolated, followed by the use of time-interpolated OSIRIS data to fill remaining gaps in regions beyond 60° S/N.
GloSSAC provides a long-term record of stratospheric aerosol particles derived primarily from satellite observations. Spanning from 1979 to the present, the database was originally developed to help climate models understand how stratospheric aerosols affect our climate in the satellite era.
The dataset primarily uses measurements from the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) series up until mid-2005. After that, it relies on measurements from OSIRIS and from CALIOP on the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) platform. The science team also added data from SAGE III/ISS to bring the record up to the present day and to verify methods for combining different measurements.
To create a complete picture, the team fills in any missing information using data from additional satellites, as well as ground-based stations. The result is a comprehensive, worldwide dataset with no gaps, primarily tracking aerosol extinction—a measure of how these particles scatter and absorb light at two specific wavelengths (525 and 1020 nanometers)—along with other measurements when available.
Technical Details
Temporal coverage: January 1, 1979 to December 31, 2025
Spatial coverage: -80 degrees South, 80 degrees North, -180 degrees West, 180 degrees East
File format: netCDF-4
Processing level: 3
Access Data and Information
Earthdata website NASA’s Earthdata Search CMR Virtual Directories
User Support
For questions about this data release or assistance with data access, please contact the ASDC User Services team or visit the Earthdata Forum.