CERES Aqua Edition4A: Hourly TOA Fluxes, Clouds and Aerosols on 1-Degree Grid

Hourly and daily averaged data collected from CERES FM3, FM4, and MODIS instruments on the Aqua satellite platform, with data collection ongoing. The product provides top-of-atmosphere fluxes for clear-sky and all-sky conditions in longwave, shortwave, and window bands, cloud properties stratified into four atmospheric layers, and aerosol values on a 1-degree latitude/longitude grid. It is produced by NASA as part of the Earth Observing System (EOS) program, following the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) mission.

Use Cases

• Modeling Earth's radiation budget based on top-of-atmosphere flux measurements for longwave, shortwave, and window bands.
• Analyzing cloud property distribution and radiative effects based on data stratified into four atmospheric layers.
• Studying aerosol impacts on atmospheric energy balance based on co-located imager aerosol values.
• Validating climate models using regionally averaged, temporally interpolated flux and cloud data on a global 1-degree grid.

Strengths

• Data is collected from multiple CERES Flight Models (FM3, FM4) and MODIS instruments on the Aqua satellite, providing a multi-instrument perspective.
• Provides top-of-atmosphere fluxes for three distinct wavelength bands (LW, SW, WN) under both clear-sky and all-sky conditions.
• Cloud properties are averaged for day-only and 24-hour periods and are stratified into four specific atmospheric pressure layers.
• Spatial coverage is global on a standardized 1-degree latitude and longitude grid.

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 analyses.
• Last updated 2026-03-13 05:02:10.814025; freshness should be verified as this date appears to be a future timestamp.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Collected using CERES Flight Model 3 (FM3), FM4, and MODIS instruments on the Aqua satellite platform.

Time Range

Data collection began with Aqua launch on May 4, 2002 and is ongoing.

Freshness

Data collection is described as 'in progress'; last metadata update timestamp is 2026-03-13.

Geography

Global coverage on a 1-degree latitude and longitude grid.