CERES CRS Terra FM2 MODIS: Instantaneous Cloud and Radiative Flux Profiles

CERES Clouds and Radiative Swath data from the Terra satellite's FM2 instrument provides one hour of instantaneous measurements. The product contains Single Scanner Footprint data with vertical flux profiles evaluated at four atmospheric levels: surface, 500-, 70-, and 1-hPa. NASA's CERES instruments, launched on Terra in 1999, are a key component of the Earth Observing System.

Use Cases

• Modeling atmospheric radiative transfer based on adjusted fluxes at four atmospheric levels.
• Analyzing cloud radiative forcing based on cloud parameters adjusted for consistency with a radiative transfer model.
• Studying Earth's radiation budget based on broadband radiometric measurements from three channels.
• Comparing clear-sky and total-sky conditions based on adjusted fluxes evaluated for both scenarios.

Strengths

• The collection for this product is complete.
• Data is adjusted for consistency with a radiative transfer model.
• Fluxes are evaluated at four distinct atmospheric levels.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Collected using the CERES-FM2 instrument on the Terra platform.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 04:02:51.817621; freshness should be verified.