SatCORPS CERES GEO: Hourly Cloud and Radiation Properties from GOES-15

Hourly cloud microphysical and radiation properties derived from GOES-15 geostationary satellite imager data using Langley Research Center SatCORPS algorithms. The data product, version 1.2, is arranged in netCDF-4 files for each hour at a 4 km resolution (sub-sampled to 8 km) over the Northern Hemisphere. It was created by NASA to support the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) project, a key component of the Earth Observing System.

Use Cases

• Modeling Earth's radiation budget based on derived cloud and radiation properties.
• Analyzing the diurnal cycle of cloud microphysics over the Northern Hemisphere.
• Validating climate models using satellite-retrieved hourly cloud property estimates.
• Studying cloud-radiation interactions using geostationary satellite data merged for global coverage.

Strengths

• Data is derived from the GOES-15 Imager, a well-documented operational satellite instrument.
• Provides hourly temporal resolution for analyzing diurnal cycles.
• Offers a spatial resolution of 4 km at nadir, sub-sampled to 8 km.
• Data is formatted in the standardized, self-describing netCDF-4 format.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The description notes version 1.2 is identical to version 1.0 with no algorithm changes, suggesting potential staleness in methodology.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Derived from GOES-15 Imager data using Langley Research Center (LaRC) SatCORPS algorithms.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 21:42:42.657274; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Northern Hemisphere