SatCORPS CERES GEO: Hourly Cloud and Radiation Properties from Himawari-9

Hourly cloud micro-physical and radiation properties derived from the Advanced Himawari Imager on the Himawari-9 geostationary satellite. The data is produced by NASA's Langley Research Center using SatCORPS algorithms for the CERES project, with observations at 2 km resolution sub-sampled to 6 km. Version 1.4 uses the GMAO MERRA-2 reanalysis for atmospheric input.

Use Cases

• Modeling Earth's radiation budget based on derived cloud and radiation properties.
• Analyzing cloud micro-physical property trends over the Northern Hemisphere based on hourly geostationary data.
• Validating atmospheric reanalysis models using satellite-derived cloud retrievals.
• Studying diurnal cycles of cloud properties based on hourly temporal resolution.

Strengths

• Data is derived from the Advanced Himawari Imager on a dedicated geostationary platform, providing consistent observation geometry.
• Hourly temporal resolution supports analysis of diurnal cycles.
• Observations are at a native 2 km resolution at nadir, providing fine spatial detail.

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 of the dataset.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Derived from the Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) Instrument on the Himawari-9 geostationary satellite using cloud retrieval algorithms.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 21:41:46.642954; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Northern Hemisphere.