Liquid Water Inside Ceres: The icy dwarf planet Ceres (radius ≈475 km, density 2.1 g.cm−3, semi-major axis 2.8 AU) is the only body besides the Earth and Mars where carbonates have been observed along with brucite, another product of aqueous alteration [1]. Ceres will be visited by the Dawn spacecraft in 2015, which will offer an opportunity to constrain the origin of this large icy body. For e...

We use the clathrate hydrate trapping theory (Lunine & Stevenson 1985) and the gas drag formalism of Weidenschilling (1977) to calculate the composition of ices incorporated in the interior of Ceres. In the spirit of the work of Cyr et al. (1998), and using a time dependent solar nebula model, we show that icy solids can drift from beyond 5 AU to the present location of the asteroid and be pres...

[1] Clouds and the Earth’s radiant energy system (CERES) is a satellite-based remote sensing system designed to monitor the Earth’s radiation budget. In this paper we examine uncertainties in the angular distribution models (ADMs) used by CERES over permanently snow covered surfaces with clear skies. These ADMs are a key part of the CERES data processing algorithms, used to convert the observed...

This paper presents an overview of the CERES project. It demonstrates how algorithm improvements have lead to improved top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiative flux accuracy. CERES shortwave flux anomalies are compared with those from Earthshine and ISCCP-FD. OCIS codes: (010.1310) Atmospheric scattering

[1] Using broadband shortwave radiance measurements from the Clouds and Earth Radiant Energy System (CERES) sensors onboard the Terra and Aqua satellites, empirical angular distribution models (EADM) are constructed for smoke aerosols. These EADMs are constructed for smoke aerosols emitted during the biomass burning season (August‐October), in South America. All available years (2000–2008) of b...

Ceres is the most massive body of the asteroid belt and contains about 25 wt.% (weight percent) of water. Understanding its thermal evolution and assessing its current state are major goals of the Dawn Mission. Constraints on its internal structure can be inferred from various observations. Especially, detailed knowledge of the rotational motion can help constrain the mass distribution inside t...

Ceres Sementes do Brasil, Ltda is an affiliate of Ceres, Inc, founded in 1996 with headquarters in Thousand Oaks, California, USA, focused on development and marketing of non-food grasses for advanced biofuels and biopower with the aim of providing new opportunities for growers and a cleaner environment for us all. In 2009, Ceres Inc. founded its first Brazilian affiliate in São Paulo and initi...

This study introduces new CERES Angular Distribution Models (ADMs) for estimating shortwave, longwave and window top-of-atmosphere radiative fluxes from broadband radiance measurements. By combining CERES measurements with narrowband, high-resolution imager measurements, up to a factor 4 improvement in TOA flux accuracy is achieved compared to TOA flux estimates from previous experiments, such ...

Conventional single-layer cloud assumptions lead to erroneous results in satellite retrieved cloud properties for multilayered multiphase cloud systems. The Cloud and Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) project strives to develop an exploratory multilayer cloud data product using the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data. The new MODIS multilayer cloud products will be av...

New data products from the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES; Wielicki et al., 1996) instrument were recently released. The Single Scanner Footprint (SSF) data product combines radiation budget data from CERES with cloud property retrievals from an imager on the same platform to provide a vastly improved characterization of the state of the atmosphere. In addition, the SSF inc...