CERES Aqua Edition4A: Daily TOA Fluxes, Clouds and Aerosols

Daily averages of top-of-atmosphere radiative fluxes, cloud, and aerosol properties collected by the CERES FM3 and FM4 instruments on the Aqua satellite. Data is provided on a 1-degree latitude and longitude grid, with fluxes for clear-sky and all-sky conditions across longwave, shortwave, and window bands. The dataset is produced by NASA as part of the Earth Observing System (EOS) program.

Use Cases

• Model Earth's radiation budget based on daily interpolated TOA fluxes.
• Analyze cloud property stratification based on four atmospheric layers.
• Study aerosol distribution based on averaged instantaneous imager values.
• Validate climate models based on longwave, shortwave, and window band flux measurements.

Strengths

• Data is collected by the CERES-Flight Model 3 (FM3) and FM4 instruments on the Aqua platform.
• Fluxes are provided for clear-sky and all-sky conditions across three wavelength bands.
• Cloud properties are stratified into four atmospheric layers and averaged for day-only and 24-hour periods.

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

Data collected using CERES-Flight Model 3 (FM3) and FM4 instruments on the Aqua satellite.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 04:58:16.544728; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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