CERES NOAA-20 Satellite Cloud and Radiation Data Stratified by Optical Depth

Monthly daytime mean data collected by the CERES FM6 instrument on the NOAA-20 satellite, launched on November 18, 2017. The dataset provides top-of-atmosphere fluxes and cloud properties spatially gridded into 1° regions, stratified by six cloud optical depth bins and seven cloud effective pressure layers. It is produced by NASA's CERES program, a key component of the Earth Observing System.

Use Cases

• Modeling cloud radiative forcing based on stratified cloud optical depth and effective pressure.
• Analyzing regional variations in Earth's energy budget using spatially gridded 1° flux data.
• Studying cloud type influence on atmospheric radiation using the 42 cloud type stratification.
• Tracking long-term changes in daytime TOA fluxes from the NOAA-20 satellite.

Strengths

• Data is stratified by six cloud optical depth bins and seven cloud effective pressure layers.
• Provides spatially gridded data into 1° regions along NOAA-20 ground tracks.
• Derived from CERES Flight Model 6 (FM6) and VIIRS instruments on the NOAA-20 satellite.

Limitations

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

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Satellite radiometric measurements from CERES FM6 and VIIRS instruments on NOAA-20.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 04:01:51.729899; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global extent.