Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES): algorithm overview

The Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) is part of NASA’s Earth Observing System (EOS). CERES objectives include the following. 1) For climate change analysis, provide a continuation of the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) record of radiative fluxes at the top-of-the-atmosphere (TOA), analyzed using the same techniques as the existing ERBE data. 2) Double the accuracy of estimates of radiative fluxes at TOA and the earth’s surface; 3) Provide the first long-term global estimates of the radiative fluxes within the earth’s atmosphere. 4) Provide cloud property estimates collocated in space and time that are consistent with the radiative fluxes from surface to TOA. In order to accomplish these goals, CERES uses data from a combination of spaceborne instruments: CERES scanners, which are an improved version of the ERBE broadband radiomeManuscript received December 4, 1997; revised February 12, 1998. B. A. Wielicki, B. R. Barkstrom, B. A. Baum, T. P. Charlock, R. N. Green, D. P. Kratz, R. B. Lee, III, P. Minnis, T. Wong, and D. F. Young are with the Atmospheric Sciences Division, NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA 23681-0001 USA (e-mail: [email protected]). G. L. Smith is with the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0238 USA. R. D. Cess is with the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11790 USA. J. A. Coakley, Jr., is with Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331 USA. D. A. H. Crommelynck is with the Institut Royal Meteorologique, B-1180 Brussels, Belgium. L. Donner is with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton, NJ 08542 USA. R. Kandel is with the Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France. M. D. King is with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 USA. A. J. Miller is with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NWS/National Center for Environmental Prediction, Camp Springs, MD 20233 USA. V. Ramanathan is with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0237 USA. D. A. Randall is with Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80521 USA. L. L. Stowe is with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service, Washington, DC 20233 USA. R. M. Welch is with the University of Alabama-Huntsville, Huntsville, AL 35807 USA. Publisher Item Identifier S 0196-2892(98)04158-8. ters, and collocated cloud spectral imager data on the same spacecraft. The CERES cloud and radiative flux data products should prove extremely useful in advancing the understanding of cloud-radiation interactions, particularly cloud feedback effects on the earth’s radiation balance. For this reason, the CERES data should be fundamental to our ability to understand, detect, and predict global climate change. CERES results should also be very useful for studying regional climate changes associated with deforestation, desertification, anthropogenic aerosols, and El Niño/Southern Oscillation events. This overview summarizes the Release 2 version of the planned CERES data products and data analysis algorithms. These algorithms are a prototype for the system that will produce the scientific data required for studying the role of clouds and radiation in the earth’s climate system. This release will produce a data processing system designed to analyze the first CERES data, planned for launch on Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) in November 1997, followed by the EOS morning (EOSAM1) platform in 1998.