Earth Radiation Budget Satellite Observations from ERBE and CERES

NASA's Earth Radiation Budget dataset provides nearly 30 years of calibrated observations from the ERBE and CERES projects, starting in 1984. The data includes top-of-atmosphere and surface irradiance measurements, processed using established CERES algorithms to ensure consistency. These products are available from the Atmospheric Science Data Center.

Use Cases

• Analyzing long-term trends in top-of-atmosphere outgoing longwave radiation.
• Studying the contribution of cloud property variability to surface solar radiation.
• Calibrating climate models using consistent, multi-decadal irradiance data.
• Investigating the relationship between atmospheric properties and the Earth's radiation budget.

Strengths

• Provides a nearly 30-year continuous record of Earth radiation budget observations.
• Data is calibrated to a consistent radiometric scale across multiple satellite missions (ERBS and CERES).
• Products are derived using established and peer-reviewed CERES algorithms.

Limitations

• Specific row counts, column names, and dataset size are not provided by any source.
• Conflicting last updated dates exist between platforms (2026-03-13 on datagov vs. 1998-12-31 on nasa_earthdata).

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Satellite observations from the ERBE and CERES projects, processed using 1D radiative transfer theory.

Time Range

1984 to approximately 2014 (nearly 30 years)

Freshness

2026-03 13 03:06:44.104776

Geography

Global