CERES MODIS Cloud Retrievals: Nighttime Monthly Gridded Averages from Aqua Satellite

Monthly and 3-hourly gridded cloud property averages from the CERES FM4 and MODIS instruments on the Aqua satellite, collected from 2002 onward. The data product, created by NASA, stratifies cloud properties by pressure, optical depth, and phase across 18 cloud types, with coverage from pole to pole. It is derived from the Single Scanner Footprint (SSF) product and is formatted similarly to the ISCCP D2 product.

Use Cases

• Modeling cloud radiative forcing based on cloud type, pressure, and optical depth stratification.
• Analyzing diurnal cloud property cycles using the monthly 3-hourly (GMT) gridded data.
• Comparing CERES-derived cloud retrievals with official NASA MODIS products for validation studies.
• Investigating long-term cloud climatology trends with pole-to-pole coverage.

Strengths

• Data is stratified by 18 cloud types based on pressure, optical depth, and phase.
• Provides both monthly and monthly 3-hourly gridded averages for temporal analysis.
• Coverage is from pole to pole, offering a global perspective.
• Data collection is stated as complete, providing a finalized record.

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.
• The description notes retrievals and quality are different for each of the separate day/night and Terra/Aqua datasets.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Collected using the CERES-FM4 and MODIS instruments on the Aqua satellite platform.

Time Range

Collection began with the Aqua satellite launch on May 4, 2002; data collection is complete.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 20:34:49.411415; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global coverage from pole to pole.