def query_release(release):
    """
    Build formatted query string for ICESat-2 release

    Arguments
    ---------
    release: ICESat-2 data release to query

    Returns
    -------
    query_params: formatted string for CMR queries
    """
    if release is None:
        return ''
    #-- maximum length of version in CMR queries
    desired_pad_length = 3
    if len(str(release)) > desired_pad_length:
        raise RuntimeError('Release string too long: "{0}"'.format(release))
    #-- Strip off any leading zeros
    release = str(release).lstrip('0')
    query_params = ''
    while len(release) <= desired_pad_length:
        padded_release = release.zfill(desired_pad_length)
        query_params += '&version={0}'.format(padded_release)
        desired_pad_length -= 1
    return query_params