SatCORPS CERES GEO: Hourly Cloud and Radiation Properties from GOES-13

Northern Hemisphere observations of cloud micro-physical and radiation properties derived hourly from GOES-13 geostationary satellite imager data. The dataset was created by NASA's Langley Research Center using SatCORPS algorithms to support the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) project. Data collection for this product is complete, with files arranged for each hour in netCDF-4 format at a 4 km resolution sub-sampled to 8 km.

Use Cases

• Modeling the Earth's radiation budget based on derived cloud and radiation properties.
• Analyzing diurnal cycles of cloud microphysics based on hourly temporal resolution.
• Studying cloud property variability across the Northern Hemisphere based on geostationary satellite coverage.
• Validating climate models using satellite-derived estimates of atmospheric fluxes.

Strengths

• Data collection is complete, providing a finalized record.
• Observations are at 4 km resolution (at nadir), suggesting high spatial detail.
• Derived from a key Earth Observing System (EOS) program component, CERES.
• Hourly temporal resolution supports analysis of the diurnal cycle.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to its Northern Hemisphere coverage.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Langley Research Center (LaRC).

Collection Method

Derived using the Langley Research Center (LaRC) SATCORPS algorithms from GOES-13 Imager data.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 22:10:57.299324; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Northern Hemisphere.