CERES FluxByCldTyp-Day: Terra and Aqua Satellite Cloud and Radiation Data

CERES Daily Daytime Mean Regionally Averaged Terra and Aqua TOA Fluxes and Associated Cloud Properties Stratified by Optical Depth and Effective Pressure Edition4A provides instantaneous daytime fluxes and cloud properties from CERES and MODIS instruments. Data is spatially gridded into 1° regions along satellite ground tracks and stratified into six cloud optical depth bins and seven cloud effective pressure layers. The dataset is produced by NASA's CERES program, a key Earth Observing System component, with data collection ongoing since the launch of instruments on Terra in 1999 and Aqua in 2002.

Use Cases

• Modeling cloud radiative forcing based on stratified optical depth and effective pressure layers.
• Analyzing regional variations in top-of-atmosphere fluxes based on 1° gridded data.
• Studying the relationship between cloud types and Earth's radiant energy based on CERES-MODIS cloud property stratification.
• Tracking long-term changes in atmospheric radiation using data from ongoing satellite missions.

Strengths

• Data is stratified by six cloud optical depth bins and seven cloud effective pressure layers, providing detailed categorization.
• Utilizes measurements from multiple CERES Flight Models (FM1-FM4) and MODIS instruments on two satellite platforms (Terra and Aqua).
• Provides spatially gridded data at a 1° regional scale along satellite ground tracks.

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; freshness should be verified for specific analysis periods.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Data collected using CERES Flight Models and Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments on Terra and Aqua satellites.

Time Range

Data collection ongoing; coverage likely starts from satellite launch dates (Terra: 1999, Aqua: 2002).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 04:01:29.791062; data collection is ongoing.

Geography

Global extent, with data gridded into 1° regions along satellite ground tracks.