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

Hourly cloud micro-physical and radiation properties derived from GOES-13 geostationary satellite imager data at 4 km resolution. The data set is arranged as files for each hour in netCDF-4 format and supports the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) project, a key component of NASA's Earth Observing System. Data collection for this specific GOES-13 Southern Hemisphere product is complete.

Use Cases

• Modeling the Earth's diurnal radiation cycle based on hourly cloud property estimates.
• Analyzing cloud micro-physical properties over the Southern Hemisphere based on satellite-derived retrievals.
• Estimating radiative fluxes between CERES instrument measurements using merged geostationary satellite data.
• Studying cloud property evolution at high temporal resolution from geostationary imagery.

Strengths

• Data is at 4 km spatial resolution at nadir, providing detailed geospatial information.
• Provides hourly temporal resolution for analyzing diurnal cycles.
• Derived using established Langley Research Center (LaRC) SatCORPS algorithms supporting the long-running CERES project.
• Data collection is complete, indicating a stable, final version.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Spatial coverage is limited to the Southern Hemisphere as specified in the title.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Derived from GOES-13 Imager data using Langley Research Center SatCORPS algorithms.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 22:10:34.974885; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Southern Hemisphere, from the GOES-13 geostationary satellite.