NASA's Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) has made available the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) Clouds and Radiative Swath (CRS) Terra Flight Model 2 (FM2) Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Edition4A data product from the CERES-FM2 instrument on the Terra platform.
This product provides instantaneous cloud properties, top of atmosphere (TOA) fluxes, and vertical flux profiles at multiple atmospheric levels for both clear-sky and total-sky conditions. This is a limited dataset that corresponds to the Arctic Radiation-Cloud-Aerosol-Surface Interaction Experiment (ARCSIX). The dataset contains scan patterns other than cross-track and some observations align with specific ARCSIX objectives.
Project Background
CERES is a key component of the Earth Observing System (EOS) program and a follow-on to the successful Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) mission. CERES instruments make radiometric measurements of the Earth's atmosphere from three broadband channels. Two CERES instruments (FM1 and FM2) were launched into polar orbit onboard the Terra platform in December 1999 with the primary objective of improving understanding of Earth's radiation budget and cloud properties.
Data Collection
CER_CRS_Terra-FM2-MODIS_Edition4A contains instantaneous CERES data for a single scanner instrument, including geolocation, geometry, packet identification, minimal cloud properties, and TOA fluxes from the CERES SSF product. This data is aggregated into hourly products for specific coverage swaths. For each CERES footprint, the CRS product contains vertical flux profiles evaluated at six atmospheric levels: surface, 850-, 500-, 200-, 70-, and 0.01-hPa for both clear-sky and total-sky conditions.
Note: This product contains only a subset of variables from the SSF and should be used in conjunction with the CER_SSF_Terra-FM2-MODIS_Edition4A product.
Access Information
For questions about this data release or assistance with data access, please contact the ASDC User Services team or visit the Earthdata Forum.