Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES)
CERES |
Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System |
Satellites |
TRMM, EOS-Terra, EOS-Aqua, NPP and NPOESS-1 |
Status |
Operational – Utilised in the period 1997 to ~ 2020 |
Mission |
Earth radiation budget |
Instrument type |
Two broad-band and one narrow-band channel radiometer. Two units, one cross-track scanning, one bi-axial scanning for irradiance computation (only one unit on TRMM, alternatine the two modes) |
Scanning technique |
Cross-track: 80 steps of 20 km s.s.p., swath 3000 km - Along-track: one 20-km line every 3 s. |
Coverage/cycle |
Global coverage twice/day (IR and total radiance) or once/day (short-wave) |
Resolution (s.s.p.) |
20 km (10 km for TRMM due to lower orbit) |
Resources |
Mass: 100 kg - Power: 103 W - Data rate: 20 kbps |
Channel |
Spectral interval |
Noise Equivalent Radiance |
Absolute accuracy |
SNR |
Narrow-band |
8 - 12 µm |
0.3 W m-2 sr-1 |
0.3 W m-2 sr-1 |
.............. |
Short-wave |
0.3 - 5.0 µm |
0.3 W m-2 sr-1 |
0.8 W m-2 sr-1 |
............. |
Total radiance |
0.3 - 100 µm |
0.3 W m-2 sr-1 |
0.6 W m-2 sr-1 |
............. |
Last updated in June 2008