CERES ERBE-like TOA Fluxes: Terra and Aqua Satellite Monthly Averages

CERES ES-4 Edition4 data provides monthly, daily, and hourly averages of shortwave and longwave radiative fluxes at the top of the atmosphere. The data is collected by Flight Models 1 and 2 on the Terra satellite and Flight Models 3 and 4 on the Aqua satellite, with collection ongoing. This product is a key component of NASA's Earth Observing System, following the ERBE mission, with the first CERES instrument launched in 1997.

Use Cases

• Modeling Earth's energy budget based on top-of-atmosphere shortwave and longwave flux averages.
• Analyzing regional climate trends based on 2.5-, 5-, and 10-degree spatial and zonal averages.
• Studying diurnal cycles using hourly average data derived from scene identification and diurnal models.
• Calculating planetary albedo and net flux for nested geographical areas.

Strengths

• Data collection is ongoing from multiple satellite instruments (FM1, FM2, FM3, FM4).
• Provides nested spatial averages at 2.5-, 5-, and 10-degree resolutions, as well as zonal and global averages.
• Includes multiple temporal aggregations: monthly, daily, and hourly averages.

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

Satellite radiometric measurements from CERES instruments on Terra and Aqua platforms.

Time Range

Collection ongoing; initial CERES instrument launched in 1997.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 05:06:23.579354; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global coverage with data nested into 2.5-degree regions.