CERES

Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System

CERES Web Site (Langley Research Center)

Animation of CERES science (6.6MB Quicktime .mov)

Animation of CERES' scanning path (3.3MB Quicktime .mpg)

There are two identical CERES instruments aboard Terra that measure the Earth's total radiation budget and provide cloud property estimates that enable scientists to assess clouds' roles in radiative fluxes from the surface to the top of the atmosphere. One CERES instrument will operate in a cross-track scan mode and the other in a biaxial scan mode. The cross-track mode will essentially continue the measurements of the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) mission as well as the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), while the biaxial scan mode will provide new angular flux information that will improve the accuracy of angular models used to derive the Earth's radiation balance.

Two CERES sensors will also launch later this year aboard Terra's sister ship—Aqua.

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