Sensor · Spaceborne

ATLID (Atmospheric Lidar)

Missions → EarthCARE (Earth Cloud, Aerosol and Radiation Explorer) (Operational)

Sensor

ATLID (Atmospheric Lidar) is a high-spectral-resolution lidar (HSRL) operating at 355 nm in the ultraviolet, developed by Airbus Defence and Space as one of four instruments aboard the ESA-JAXA EarthCARE satellite (Earth Clouds, Aerosols and Radiation Explorer). ATLID provides vertically resolved profiles of aerosol and thin-cloud backscatter, extinction, and depolarization ratio from the top of the atmosphere to the surface, enabling separation of aerosol and cloud contributions without reliance on assumed lidar ratios.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Laser pulse energy at 355 nm is reported as 31-35 mJ in the AMT 2023 EarthCARE science and system overview ^[3] and as 38 mJ by the ESA EO Gateway ATLID instrument page ^[1]; both sources are tier-1. The ESA value reflects the as-built and acceptance-tested configuration.

EarthCARE was launched on 28 May 2024. ATLID acquires data along a 355-nm lidar curtain with a footprint of 30 m and along-track sampling of 280 m; range resolution is 100 m in the troposphere and 500 m in the stratosphere.^[4]^[5] The instrument is designed to operate in coordination with the Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR), Multi-Spectral Imager (MSI), and Broadband Radiometer (BBR) aboard EarthCARE to support studies of cloud radiative effects and the Earth's energy budget.^[3]

Selex Galileo (Florence) is cited in some references as a co-manufacturer alongside Airbus DS; this has not been described in detail in publicly released instrument documentation as of 2026-06-04.^[1]