Retrieved files count vs. granules count in Earthdata download

[ASDC - micook]

We recently received a question from a user about an Earthdata Search download order where the number of “retrieved files” is smaller than the number of granules.
Dataset: CALIPSO Lidar Level 2 5 km Merged Layer, V4-51
Download Status page: https://search.earthdata.nasa.gov/downloads/3464466097
Status shows: Complete (100%)
Granules: 843
Message shown: “Retrieved 780 files for 843 granules”
Could you please help me understand why the retrieved file count (780) is lower than the granule count (843)? For example:
Are some granules expected to have no downloadable file (e.g., empty/no-data granules, duplicates, or filtered items)?
Were some granules skipped due to errors, permissions, or availability issues on the archive?
Is there a way to view a report/log indicating which granules were not retrieved and the reason?
If there are missing files, I’d appreciate guidance on how to obtain them (or how to re-run the request properly to ensure all granules are included).

[ASDC - micook]

This script was provided by the CALIPSO SME: Cheyenne Land.

Use the following script to download the files.
More information is available on earthaccess:
https://earthaccess.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

download_CALIPSO_data.py

1. import earthaccess
2. import os
3.
4. earthaccess.login()
5.
6. short_name = "CAL_LID_L1-Standard-V4-51"
7. version = "V4-51"
8. results = earthaccess.search_data(
9. short_name=short_name,
10. version=version,
11. temporal=("2017-07-01T00:00:00", "2017-07-01T02:59:59")
12. )
13. print(f"{len(results)} file(s) found.")
14.
15. downloaded_files = earthaccess.download(results, local_path=".")
16.
17. print(f"{len(results)} file(s) downloaded here: {os.getcwd()}")