SatCORPS CERES GEO Edition 4: GOES-9 Northern Hemisphere Cloud and Radiation Data

Northern Hemisphere cloud micro-physical and radiation properties derived from GOES-9 geostationary satellite imager data. The dataset comprises hourly files at 4 km resolution (sub-sampled to 8 km) in netCDF-4 format, created by NASA's Langley Research Center using SatCORPS algorithms for the CERES project. Data collection for this product is complete, supporting the CERES mission which began with the first instrument launch in 1997.

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 Northern Hemisphere cloud properties at 4 km spatial resolution.
• Validating climate models using satellite-derived atmospheric flux estimates.

Strengths

• Data is derived from a specific, well-documented satellite platform (GOES-9).
• Observations are at a high spatial resolution of 4 km at nadir.
• Product is part of the long-running CERES mission, with instruments launched from 1997 to 2017.
• Data collection for this specific product is marked as complete.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The description does not specify the exact temporal coverage for the Northern Hemisphere data.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Derived from GOES-9 geostationary satellite imager data using SatCORPS algorithms.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 21:41:27.183982; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Northern Hemisphere