CERES SYN1deg-Month Terra-NOAA20: Satellite-Derived Radiative Fluxes and Cloud Properties

CERES and GEO-Enhanced TOA, Within-Atmosphere and Surface Fluxes, Clouds and Aerosols Monthly Terra-NOAA20 Edition4A data product combines observations from multiple satellite instruments. The NASA product provides temporally interpolated top-of-atmosphere radiative fluxes and coincident cloud and aerosol properties on a three-hourly temporal resolution and 1-degree regional spatial scales. Data collection for this product is ongoing, with the latest metadata update recorded on 2026-03 13.

Use Cases

• Modeling Earth's radiative energy budget based on computed all-sky and clear-sky longwave, shortwave, and window region fluxes.
• Analyzing cloud and aerosol impacts on climate based on MODIS, VIIRS, and geostationary satellite-derived cloud properties.
• Studying diurnal variability in atmospheric parameters based on 1-hourly GEO radiance data interpolated to a complete time series.
• Validating and tuning radiative transfer models based on Langley Fu-Liou model computations constrained by CERES-observed TOA fluxes.
• Investigating regional atmospheric profiles based on data integrated with NASA GMAO atmospheric profiles.

Strengths

• Integrates data from six distinct satellite instruments and platforms, including CERES, MODIS, VIIRS, and geostationary imagers.
• Provides parameters on a consistent three-hourly temporal resolution and 1-degree regional spatial scale.
• Uses a normalization technique to ensure consistency between CERES and geostationary satellite-derived top-of-atmosphere fluxes.
• Computations are provided for all-sky, clear-sky, pristine, and all-sky without aerosol conditions.

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 processing.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing data from CERES, MODIS, VIIRS, and geostationary imagers, processed using the Langley Fu-Liou radiative transfer model.

Time Range

Ongoing data collection; specific temporal coverage is not stated.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 05:09:24.851858; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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