CERES ERBE-like Instantaneous TOA Estimates from Aqua Satellite

Ongoing data collection from the CERES-FM3 instrument on the Aqua satellite, launched May 4, 2002. The product provides 24 hours of instantaneous top-of-the-atmosphere flux estimates, including filtered and unfiltered radiances for total, shortwave, and window channels. It is produced by NASA as part of the Earth Observing System (EOS) program.

Use Cases

• Modeling Earth's energy budget based on top-of-the-atmosphere (TOA) flux estimates.
• Analyzing shortwave and longwave radiation patterns based on filtered and unfiltered radiance data.
• Validating climate models using scene identification and angular geometry data.
• Studying diurnal variations in atmospheric radiation from 24-hour instantaneous data records.

Strengths

• Data collection is explicitly stated as ongoing, suggesting continuous updates.
• Product includes data from a specific, well-documented instrument (CERES-FM3) on a major satellite platform (Aqua).
• Derived from a follow-on mission to the successful ERBE program, indicating a mature methodology.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale ML tasks.
• Data format includes binary (BIN) files, which may require specialized tools for processing.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Collected using the CERES-FM3 broadband radiometer instrument on the Aqua spacecraft.

Time Range

Ongoing collection since instrument launch on May 4, 2002.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 05:07:58.483322; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global coverage from the Aqua satellite's polar orbit.