CERES instruments make measurements of the Earth's atmosphere using three broadband channels that measure reflected solar radiation in the shortwave (0.3-5.0 µm), thermal emission from the surface and atmosphere in the longwave window region (8-12 µm), and total emission (0.3 µm to >100 µm). Hourly, daily and monthly averaged derived products contain parameters including fluxes, filtered and unfiltered radiances, surface type id and albedo. Cloud measurements include cloud base and top pressure, particle phase type, and cloud infrared emissivity, among others.

The first CERES instrument was launched on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite in November, 1997. Two CERES instruments are currently operating onboard the Terra spacecraft, launched in December 1999. The CERES instruments are designed as an improved follow on to the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) instruments which operated from 1984-1990) and with those measurements provide a long term history of radiation budget information. Data from these instruments are processed, archived and distributed by the NASA Langley Atmospheric Sciences Data Center, http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov.

This poster provides information and graphic examples of the CERES data sets along with software tools for data access and visualization.