CERES Clouds and TOA/SFC Flux Processing Data Sets
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CERES Clouds and TOA/SFC Flux Processing Data Sets |
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CERES Clouds and TOA/SFC Flux processing focus on Top-of-Atmophere (TOA) radiation, includes parameterized models for surface radiation estimation. Cloud detection using multi-spectral VIRS/MODIS imager. Vastly improved angular directional models allowing cloud property dependent anisotropy. Time-space averaging includes 1hourly geostationary radiance data to improve diurnal cycle modeling between CERES Flux measurements.
The complete CERES processing and data flow diagram.
| Single Scanner Footprint TOA/Surface Fluxes and Clouds (SSF) | ||||||||||||||||||||
The Single Scanner Footprint TOA/Surface Fluxes and Clouds (SSF) product
contains one hour of instantaneous Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy
System (CERES) data for a single scanner instrument. The SSF combines
instantaneous CERES data with scene information from a higher resolution
imager such as Visible/Infrared Scanner (VIRS) on TRMM or
Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on Terra and Aqua.
Scene identification and cloud properties are defined at the higher imager
resolution and these data are averaged over the larger CERES footprint. For
each CERES footprint, the SSF contains the number of cloud layers and for
each layer the cloud amount, height, temperature, pressure, optical depth,
emissivity, ice and liquid water path, and water particle size. The SSF
also contains the CERES filtered radiances for the total, shortwave (SW),
and window (WN) channels and the unfiltered SW, longwave (LW), and WN
radiances. The SW, LW, and WN radiances at spacecraft altitude are
converted to Top-of-the-Atmosphere (TOA) fluxes based on the imager defined
scene. These TOA fluxes are used to estimate surface fluxes.
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| Monthly Gridded TOA/Surface Fluxes and Clouds (SFC) | ||||||||||||||||||||
The Monthly Gridded TOA/Surface Fluxes and Clouds (SFC) archival data
product contains hourly single scanner flux and cloud parameters averaged
over regions in a 1.0-degree nested grid. The data are processed and
written in local time. Input to the SFC Subsystem is the Single Scanner
Footprint TOA/Surface Fluxes and Clouds (SSF) archival data product. Each
SFC covers a single month swath from a single CERES instrument mounted on
one satellite. The product is written in HDF and contains metadata as well
as gridded science data. For TRMM, data will be organized onto eight SFC
HDF files, each containing data for ten 1.0-degree equal-angle zones. For
Terra and Aqua, data will be organized onto 36 SFC HDF files, each
containing data for five 1.0-degree equal-angle zones. Each record contains
spatially averaged data for an individual region. The science data are
Vdata with multiple records. Each record contains spatially averaged data
for an individual region.
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| Monthly TOA/Surface Averages (SRBAVG) | ||||||||||||||||||||
The Monthly TOA/Surface Averages (SRBAVG) product contains monthly and
monthly hourly regional, zonal, and global averages of the
Top-of-the-Atmosphere (TOA) and surface LW and SW fluxes and the observed
cloud conditions for each 1-degree equal-angle region.
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| Monthly Gridded Cloud Averages (ISCCP-D2like-Day/Nit) | ||||||||||||||||||||
The Monthly Gridded Cloud Averages (ISCCP-D2like-Day/Nit), archival data
product contains 3-hourly (GMT based) monthly and monthly 1° gridded regional
mean cloud properties as a function of 18 cloud types, similar to the
"NASA-GISS ISCCP D2 product" where the cloud properties are stratified
by pressure, optical depth and phase. There is a dataset for Terra-MODIS
and Aqua-MODIS as well as a day and nighttime dataset. The CERES ISCCP-D2like-Day/Nit
cloud product was designed to closely emulate the NASA-GISS ISCCP-D2like
products, so that they meet the needs of the climate community and can
easily be incorporated into GCMs, ISCCP simulators and other climate modeling
studies. The only major difference is that the CERES ISCCP-D2like-Day/Nit
are on the CERES 1° nested grid whereas ISCCP is on a 2.5° equal area
grid.
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| Monthly Cloud Averages (ISCCP-D2like-GEO) | ||||||||||||||||||||
The Monthly Cloud Averages (ISCCP-D2like-GEO) archival data product contains
3-hourly (GMT based) monthly and monthly 1° gridded regional daytime mean
cloud properties as a function of 18 cloud types, similar to the ISCCP
D2 product, where the cloud properties are stratified by pressure, optical
depth, and phase. The GEO ISCCP-D2like is a 5-satellite, daytime 3-hourly
GMT, 8km nominal resolution, geostationary-only cloud product limited
to 60°N to 60°S. The GEO ISCCP-D2like is a daytime-only product, where
the cloud retrievals incorporate only a visible and IR channel common
to all geostationary satellites for spatial consistency.
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| Energy Balanced and Filled (EBAF) | ||||||||||||||||||||
The EBAF product provides monthly mean top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiative
fluxes constrained such that the 5-year average global net TOA flux is
consistent with our best estimate of heat storage in the Earth-atmosphere
system (~0.9 Wm-2). CERES EBAF is primarily intended for studies
that use Earth Radiation Budget (ERB) data for climate model evaluation,
estimating the Earth's annual global mean energy budget, and in studies
that infer meridional heat transports. The CERES EBAF dataset is a single
file in netCDF format. It consists of monthly 1° regional, zonal, and
global averages of TOA longwave (LW), shortwave (SW), and net (NET) fluxes
under clear and all-sky conditions. It is derived from the Terra SRBAVG-GEO
Edition2D_rev1 and SSF Edition2B_rev1 data products.
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