FLASHFlux Version 4C: Daily Gridded Satellite Radiative Fluxes

Low-latency (< 7 days from observation) daily gridded data combining Terra and NOAA-20 satellite measurements. The Fast Longwave And Shortwave Fluxes (FLASHFlux) product provides Top-of-Atmosphere and parameterized surface radiative fluxes for applied science, derived from the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy Systems (CERES) project instruments. This rapid-release product from NASA is designed for timeliness over climate-quality precision.

Use Cases

• Monitoring short-term atmospheric energy budget changes based on daily gridded Top-of-Atmosphere fluxes.
• Parameterizing surface radiative fluxes for weather and environmental models based on the Langley algorithms.
• Analyzing cloud radiative effects and properties based on imager-derived scene information averaged over CERES footprints.
• Studying regional radiative forcing based on combined data from MODIS and VIIRS imagers on Terra, Aqua, and NOAA-20 platforms.

Strengths

• Provides data with low latency, typically available within 7 days of observation.
• Combines measurements from multiple satellite platforms (Terra and NOAA-20).
• Derived from the CERES project, which produces world-class climate data products.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The product is described as not intended to achieve climate data quality, with some calibration accuracy relaxed for speed.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy Systems (CERES) project.

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing from CERES instruments aboard NASA's Terra and NOAA-20 spacecraft, combined with scene data from MODIS and VIIRS imagers and meteorological assimilation data.

Time Range

Data collection is in progress; temporal coverage is not explicitly stated.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 02:50:11.638922; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Globally gridded data.