SatCORPS CERES GEO: Hourly Cloud and Radiation Data from MTSAT-1R over Southern Hemisphere

Hourly cloud micro-physical and radiation properties derived from MTSAT-1R geostationary satellite data at 3 km resolution. The dataset, arranged in netCDF-4 files for each hour, was created by NASA's Langley Research Center to support the CERES project for estimating fluxes between instrument measurements. CERES instruments have been launched on multiple missions since 1997, including Terra, Aqua, and NOAA-20.

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 geostationary satellite imagery.
• Estimating radiative fluxes for climate models based on broadband radiometric measurement proxies.
• Studying temporal changes in cloud coverage and properties based on the hourly time-series data.

Strengths

• Data is derived from a specific geostationary satellite instrument (MTSAT-1R VISSR) with a stated 3 km resolution at nadir.
• Provides hourly temporal coverage, which is useful for analyzing diurnal cycles.
• Produced by NASA's Langley Research Center in support of the long-running CERES project, which involves multiple satellite missions.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data collection is stated as complete, indicating no future updates from this specific source.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Derived from MTSAT-1R geostationary satellite imager data using Langley Research Center SatCORPS algorithms.

Time Range

Hourly data; specific date range not provided.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 22:08:46.698673; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Southern Hemisphere coverage from MTSAT-1R geostationary satellite.