The Ocean Biology DAAC produces near real-time (NRT) products using the best-available combination of ancillary data from meteorological and ozone data. As such, the inputs and the calibration used are less than optimal. Near real-time products provide a snapshot of the data during a short time period within a single orbit.

The CLOUD_GPC suite provides cloud properties derived from the GISS Polarimetric Cloud (GPC) algorithm, along with additional variables obtained through combination with the OCI CLOUD suite.

Given the novelty of implementing a polarimetric algorithm on a global scale, note that several experimental variables—particularly those intended for diagnostic purposes and future refinement—are included and may change in subsequent, more mature versions.
Core geophysical variables in this suite include:
• cloud_bow_droplet_effective_radius - Cloud droplet effective radius from Cloud Bow polarimetric retrievals using parametric fitting technique (µm)
• cloud_bow_droplet_effective_variance - Cloud droplet effective variance from Cloud Bow polarimetric retrievals using parametric fitting technique (unitless)
• cloud_bow_fit_correlation - Parametric fitting correlation for Cloud Bow retrievals of droplet radius and variance (unitless)
• cloud_bow_rms - Root-mean-square error for Cloud Bow retrievals of droplet radius and variance (unitless)
• cloud_liquid_index - Index measuring the strength of the primary rainbow in polarized reflectances from liquid cloud droplets (unitless)
• cloud_rft_mode_fraction_0 - Fractional contribution of droplet mode 1 from Rainbow Fourier Transform retrievals (unitless; range: 0–1)
• cloud_rft_mode_fraction_1 - Fractional contribution of droplet mode 1 from Rainbow Fourier Transform retrievals (unitless; 0–1)