CERES SYN1deg Terra: Monthly-Averaged 1-Hourly Radiative Fluxes and Cloud Properties

CERES SYN1deg-MHour_Terra-MODIS_Edition4A is a NASA data product providing top-of-atmosphere, within-atmosphere, and surface radiative fluxes alongside cloud and aerosol properties. The data is derived from CERES and MODIS instruments on the Terra satellite and geostationary satellites, processed using the Langley Fu-Liou radiative transfer model. It offers parameters on a monthly-averaged, one-hourly temporal resolution and a 1-degree regional spatial scale.

Use Cases

• Modeling Earth's energy budget based on computed all-sky and clear-sky longwave, shortwave, and window region fluxes.
• Analyzing cloud radiative forcing based on coincident MODIS-derived cloud properties and adjusted cloud parameters.
• Studying aerosol impacts on radiation using data for pristine and all-sky without aerosol conditions.
• Investigating diurnal variability of radiative fluxes based on geostationary satellite-enhanced 1-hourly time series.

Strengths

• Data collection is described as complete, providing a finalized temporal record.
• Integrates multiple calibrated sources: CERES, MODIS, and geostationary satellite data.
• Provides computed fluxes for four distinct atmospheric conditions: all-sky, clear-sky, pristine, and all-sky without aerosols.
• Uses a normalization technique to ensure consistency between CERES and geostationary satellite-derived top-of-atmosphere fluxes.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale ML tasks.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Collected using CERES Imaging Radiometers on geostationary satellites and CERES/MODIS instruments on the Terra platform, processed with the Langley Fu-Liou radiative transfer model.

Time Range

Monthly-averaged data with 1-hourly temporal resolution; specific date range not provided.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 05:09:31.449938; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global coverage on a 1-degree equal-angle latitude-longitude grid.