SatCORPS CERES GEO Himawari-8: Hourly Cloud and Radiation Properties at 2 km Resolution

SatCORPS CERES GEO Edition 4 Himawari-8 Northern Hemisphere Version 1.4 comprises hourly cloud micro-physical and radiation properties derived from geostationary satellite imager data. The data was collected using the Advanced Himawari Imager on the Himawari-8 platform and processed by Langley Research Center algorithms supporting the CERES project. Observations are at 2 km resolution at nadir and sub-sampled to 6 km, with files provided hourly in netCDF-4 format.

Use Cases

• Modeling Earth's radiation budget based on derived cloud and radiation properties.
• Analyzing diurnal cycles of cloud microphysics based on hourly observations.
• Validating climate models using high-resolution (2 km) geostationary satellite data.
• Studying cloud property trends over the Northern Hemisphere.

Strengths

• Data is derived from the Advanced Himawari Imager on the Himawari-8 geostationary platform.
• Observations are provided at 2 km spatial resolution at nadir.
• Data is produced hourly, enabling analysis of diurnal cycles.
• Version 1.4 uses the GMAO MERRA-2 reanalysis for atmospheric input.

Limitations

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

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Derived from Himawari-8 AHI instrument data using Langley Research Center SatCORPS algorithms.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 21:42:09.552405; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Northern Hemisphere