Atmosphere heat flux (ATMO) includes radiative, latent, and sensible heat fluxes. The Cloud and Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instruments onboard the Terra and Aqua satellites provide the radiative flux estimates at both top of atmosphere (TOA) and surface. They include reflected shortwave (SW) and outgoing longwave (LW) radiative fluxes at TOA, and downward and net SW and LW radiative fluxes at the surface. Terra and Aqua satellites fly on sun synchronizing orbits with equator crossing times at 10:30 AM and 1:30 PM, respectively. The atmospheric radiative flux (RADI) is calculated from these radiative flux estimates. The latent heat component is estimated from the rainfall amounts of the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) and the sensible heat flux is acquired from the Data Assimilation Office (DAO) of Goddard Space Fight Center.

Based on 2004 data, the global annual means for latent heat and sensible heat fluxes are 74.58 and 21.97W/m^2, respectively. The global annual RADI means from Terra and Aqua are -83.03 and -88.66 W/m^2. Combining these flux components, the global ATMO are 13.38 and 7.88 W/m^2 for Terra and Aqua, respectively. The regional area-weighted contributions of ATMO are (16.92, 0.083, -8.61) W/m^2 from Terra and (13.06, -1.47, and -8.83)W/m^2 from Aqua for tropical (0-30 degrees), mid-latitude (30-60 degrees), and high-latitude regions (60-90 degrees). Tropics is about 15 and 24 W/m^2 higher than mid-latitude and high-latitude regions. This causes polar ward heat transport. The regional area-weighted contributions are (43.03, 26.76, and 4.78) W/m^2 for latent heat, (14.10, 7.82, and 0.04) W/m^2 for sensible heat, (-37.42, -32.66, and -12.95) W/m^2 for Terra RADI, and (-41.28, -34.22. and -13.16) W/m^2 for Aqua.RADI over tropical, mid-latitude, and high-latitude regions, respectively. The tropical high and thick clouds block off more solar radiation and thus have higher deficiency in RADI than the other regions but it has much higher latent heat from heavier rainfall.