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Full catalog/CER_SSF_Aqua-FM3-MODIS
CER_SSF_Aqua-FM3-MODIS·vEdition4A·dataset

Sunlight and heat energy with clouds and haze (Aqua CERES)

CERES Single Scanner Footprint (SSF) TOA/Surface Fluxes, Clouds and Aerosols Aqua-FM3 Edition4A
atmosphere NASA LARC_CLOUD Level 2 active NetCDF-3HDF4
In plain English

What it measures. Measurements of the Sun's and Earth's energy at the top of the atmosphere and surface, matched up with detailed cloud and haze information within each measurement footprint, including cloud height, temperature, thickness, and water content.

How it's made. Collected by the CERES energy sensor on the Aqua satellite, with finer cloud and scene details from the MODIS imager averaged over each larger CERES footprint and converted into energy fluxes.

How & where you'd use it. Underpins research on Earth's energy balance and how clouds and airborne particles affect incoming sunlight and outgoing heat, central to understanding climate.

What's measured

ATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION › ALBEDOATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD MICROPHYSICS › CLOUD OPTICAL DEPTH/THICKNESSATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD RADIATIVE TRANSFER › CLOUD EMISSIVITYATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD PROPERTIES › CLOUD HEIGHTATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD PROPERTIESATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION › OUTGOING LONGWAVE RADIATIONATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION › RADIATIVE FLUXATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD PROPERTIES › CLOUD BASE PRESSUREATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD PROPERTIES › CLOUD TOP PRESSUREATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE › SURFACE TEMPERATURE › SKIN TEMPERATUREATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION › EMISSIVITYATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD PROPERTIES › CLOUD FRACTIONATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR › WATER VAPOR INDICATORS › TOTAL PRECIPITABLE WATERATMOSPHERE › CLOUDS › CLOUD MICROPHYSICS › CLOUD LIQUID WATER/ICE

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2002-07-03 → ongoing
  • Measured byAqua (CERES-FM3)
  • Processing levelLevel 2
  • FormatsNetCDF-3, HDF4
  • StatusACTIVE

What you can do with it

  • Map air pollutants — NO₂, aerosols, ozone
  • Track greenhouse gases and Earth's energy budget
  • Feed weather and air-quality analysis
Official description

CER_SSF_Aqua-FM3-MODIS_Edition4A is the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) Single Scanner Footprint (SSF) Top-of-the-Atmosphere (TOA)/Surface Fluxes, Clouds and Aerosols Aqua-Flight Model 3 (FM3) Edition4A data product, which was collected using the CERES-FM3 instrument on the Aqua platform. Data collection for this product is in progress. CERES SSF TOA/Surface Fluxes are data for a single scanner instrument. The SSF combines instantaneous CERES data with scene information from a higher-resolution imager such as Visible/Infrared Scanner (VIRS) on the Tropical Measuring Mission (TRMM), Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on Terra and Aqua, and Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on Suomi- National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP). Scene identification and cloud properties are defined at the higher imager resolution, and these data are averaged over the larger CERES footprint. For each CERES footprint, the SSF contains the number of cloud layers and, for each layer, the cloud amount, height, temperature, pressure, optical depth, emissivity, ice and liquid water path, and water particle size. The SSF also contains the CERES-filtered radiances for the total, shortwave (SW), and window (WN) channels and the unfiltered SW, longwave (LW), and WN radiances. The SW, LW, and WN radiances at spacecraft altitude are converted to TOA fluxes based on the imager-defined scene. These TOA fluxes are used to estimate surface fluxes. On the SSF, only footprints with adequate imager coverage are included, which is much less than the complete set of footprints on the CERES ES-8 product. CERES is a key Earth Observing System (EOS) program component. The CERES instruments provide radiometric measurements of the Earth's atmosphere from three broadband channels. The CERES missions follow the successful Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) mission. The first CERES instrument, the protoflight model (PFM), was launched on November 27, 1997, as part of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). Two CERES instruments (FM1 and FM2) were launched into polar orbit on board the Earth Observing System (EOS) flagship Terra on December 18, 1999. Two additional CERES instruments (FM3 and FM4) were launched on board Earth Observing System (EOS) Aqua on May 4, 2002. The CERES FM5 instrument was launched on board the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite on October 28, 2011. The newest CERES instrument (FM6) was launched on board the Joint Polar-Orbiting Satellite System 1 (JPSS-1) satellite, now called NOAA-20, on November 18, 2017.

Get the data

cer_ssf_aqua-fm3-modis_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="CER_SSF_Aqua-FM3-MODIS",
    version="Edition4A",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from LARC_CLOUD
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.