CERES Fast Longwave And SHortwave Radiative Flux (FLASHFlux) Version4A and FLASHFlux NPP.

The agricultural, renewable energy management, and science communities need global surface and top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiative fluxes on a near real-time basis. The Clouds and Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) FLASHFlux (Fast Longwave and SHortwave radiative Flux) data products address this need by enhancing the speed of CERES processing using simplified calibration, averaging techniques and fast radiation parameterizations to produce global fluxes within a week of satellite observations. The CERES FLASHFlux provides two data products: 1) an hourly Level 2 Single Scanner Footprint (SSF) data separately for Aqua and Terra observations, and 2) a daily Level 3 Time Interpolated and Spatially Averaged (TISA) 1^o x 1^o gridded data that combines Aqua and Terra observations.

The CERES FLASHFlux Version4A includes an update to process MODIS Collection 6.1 in an improved cloud retrieval algorithm, and an update to the CERES Edition 4 angular distribution models. We inter-compared FLASHFlux Version4A, FLASHFlux Version3C, and CERES EBAF (Energy Balanced and Filled) Top-of-Atmosphere fluxes to evaluate these improvements. We also analyzed the impact of the new inputs and cloud algorithm to the surface shortwave and longwave radiative fluxes using ground site measurements provided by CAVE (CERES/ARM Validation Experiment). We include some use cases of the TISA products for the annual “State of Climate” report and solar energy applications. Lastly, we describe initial progress in developing new FLASHFlux SSF data products from the CERES instrument on NPP including some initial comparisons between CERES SSF NPP Edition1 and FLASHFlux SSF Aqua Version4A.