CERES NOAA-20: Monthly Daytime Cloud Stratified TOA Fluxes

Ongoing data collection from the CERES FM6 instrument on NOAA-20 launched in 2017. This dataset provides monthly mean daytime top-of-atmosphere radiative fluxes and cloud properties, spatially gridded into 1° regions and stratified by six cloud optical depth bins and seven cloud effective pressure layers. It is produced by NASA's Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) program, a key component of the Earth Observing System.

Use Cases

• Analyzing cloud radiative forcing based on stratification by optical depth and effective pressure.
• Modeling Earth's energy budget using top-of-atmosphere broadband flux measurements.
• Studying cloud type distribution and properties using the 42-type stratification method.
• Investigating regional atmospheric radiation patterns from 1° gridded monthly daytime means.

Strengths

• Data is stratified into six cloud optical depth bins and seven cloud effective pressure layers.
• Spatial resolution is 1° gridded regions along Terra and Aqua satellite ground tracks.
• Derived from CERES Flight Model 6 (FM6) and VIIRS on NOAA-20, launched in 2017.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is daytime-only and monthly mean, limiting diurnal and sub-monthly analysis.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Data collected using CERES Flight Model 6 (FM6) and Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on NOAA-20 satellite.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 05:03:40.171668; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global extent, gridded into 1° regions.