Distribution and Validation of CERES Irradiance Global Data Products Via Web Based Tools
Authors
David A Rutan — Science Systems and Applications. Inc./NASA - LRC
Cristian Mitrescu — SSAI/NASA LaRC
David Robert Doelling — Science Systems and Applications, Inc.
Seiji Kato — NASA - Langley Research Center
Category
Radiation
Description
Figure 1. Grid box locations where data from both the CERES data products and long term surface observations are collocated and distributed from the CERES web ordering tools.
NASA’s Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) project produces the SYN1deg data product that provides climate quality 3-hourly globally gridded and temporally complete maps of top of atmosphere, in atmosphere, and surface fluxes. Fluxes are computed hourly using a radiative transfer code based on inputs from Terra and Aqua MODIS as well as 3-hourly geostationary (GEO) derived cloud properties and atmospheric profiles from the GMAO GEOS4 & GEOS 5 re-analyses. GEO visible and infrared imager calibration is tied to the Aqua MODIS instrument to ensure uniform cloud properties across satellite boundaries. SYN1Deg data are the initial source of TOA and surface fluxes used to derive the CERES Energy Balanced and Filled (EBAF) product providing monthly mean maps of TOA and surface fluxes that adjust the small net imbalance found in CERES over time to match ocean heat content. These products require efficient release to the public and validation to maintain quality assurance. The CERES team developed ‘web-tools’ for the distribution of both the global gridded products and grid boxes that contain long term validation sites that maintain high quality flux observations at the Earth’s surface. These are found at: http://ceres.larc.nasa.gov/order_data.php. Here, different tools allow sub-setting and downloading of CERES and surface observations. Surface sites shown in Figure 1 include data supplied by a number of groups from DOE (the ARM facilities), NOAA (SURFRAD surface sites), WCRP (Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) sites), high latitude sites from Greenland (Greenland Climate Network, CIRES) and the Antarctic, as well as buoy sites from the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans from long-term experiments run by NOAA and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. All surface data are averaged to one-hour, three-hour, daily, and monthly mean values and made available along with coincident CERES EBAF and SYN1deg calculated flux values for the length of the CERES record (2000 through 2015). This poster describes the web sites and their usefulness for both accessing and plotting real time comparisons of the calculated and observed surface and TOA fluxes. It also analyzes differences found in long-term records from well-maintained land surface sites such as the ARM central facility and high quality buoy radiometers, which due to their isolated nature cannot be maintained in a similar manner to their land based counterparts.
