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At least 793 records · Page 44
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2000

Cloud Microphysics in Hurricane Outflows: Observations in 'Bonnie' (1998) at 12 km Altitude

The water balance of a hurricane is controlled by boundary layer inflow, near vertical motion in the eyewall causing coalescence precipitation at above and residual ice precipitation at below freezing temperatures, and cirrus outflow at below -40 C aloft. In this paper we address the question of efficiency of water removal by this cirrus outflow which is important for the release of latent heat at high altitudes and its role in the dynamic flow at that level. During NASA's 1998 Convection and Moisture Experiment campaign we acquired microphysical outflow data in order to (1) determine the release and redistribution of latent heat near the top of hurricanes, (2) aid in TRMM algorithm development for remote sensing of precipitation, and (3) determine the optical/radiative characteristics of hurricane outflow. The data were acquired with Particle Measuring Systems two dimensional imaging spectrometers. On 23 August and again during the hurricane's landfall on 26 August, 1998, the NASA DC-8 aircraft penetrated hurricane 'Bonnie' four times each near 200 hPa pressure altitude. The eye crossing times were determined by (1) zero counts of cloud particles, (2) approximately 5 C increases in static and potential temperatures, and (3) minima in speeds and changes of direction of horizontal winds. The vertical winds showed shear between -6 m per second and +4 m per second and tangential winds approached 30 m per second in the eyewall. The particle volumes in the eyewall (determined by the pixels the particles shadowed in the direction of flight [x-direction] and normally to it by the number of diodes that they shadowed [y-direction]) ranged between 0.5 and 5.0 cubic centimeters per cubic meter. With a particle density near 0.2 g per cubic centimeter (determined from in situ melting and evaporation on a surface collector), the 1.0 g per meter corresponding mass of cloud ice ranged between 0.27 and 2.7 g per kilograms yielding horizontal fluxes between 8.1 and 81 g per square meters per second. The outflow ice was concentrated in crystals of a modal size of 190 micrometers. The particle size distributions were heavily skewed toward sizes with 98% of all cirrus particles smaller than the modal size comprising, however, only 20% of the mass. Thus the smaller than modal size particles dominantly affected the optical/radiative characteristics of the cloud, whereas the larger than modal size crystals determined the ice mass, hence dominated latent heating. Questions to be addressed relate to the origin of individual ice particles as the hurricane evolved and the likelihood of pristine and aggregate particle formation under the complicated conditions of rotation and outflow in the eyewall.

Pueschel, Rudolf F.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Peridynamic elastic waves in two-dimensional unbounded domains: Construction of nonlocal Dirichlet-type absorbing boundary conditions

The focus of this paper is on application of peridynamics (PD) to propagation of elastic waves in unbounded domains. We construct absorbing boundary conditions (ABCs) derived from a semi-analytical solution of the PD governing equation at the exterior region. This solution is made up of a finite series of plane waves, as fundamental solutions (modes), which satisfy the PD dispersion relations. The modes are adjusted to transmit the energy from the interior region (near field) to the exterior region (far field). The corresponding unknown coefficients of the series are found in terms of the displacement field at a layer of points adjacent to the absorbing boundary. This is accomplished through a collocation procedure at subregions (clouds) around each absorbing point. The proposed ABCs offer appealing advantages, which facilitate their application to PD. They are of Dirichlet-type, hence their implementation is relatively simple as no derivatives of the field variables are required. They are constructed in the time and space domains and thus application of Fourier and Laplace transforms, cumbersome for nonlocal models, is not required. At the discrete level, the modes satisfy the same numerical dispersion relations of the near field, which makes the far-field solution compatible with that of the near field. We scrutinize the performance of the proposed ABCs through several examples. So our investigation shows that the proposed ABCs perform stably in time with an appropriate level of accuracy even in problems characterized by highly-dispersive propagating waves, including crack propagation in semi-unbounded brittle solids.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS1999

The Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) for the ICESAT Mission

Accurate measurements of surface heights and atmospheric backscatter have been demonstrated with the SLA, MOLA and LITE space lidar. Recent MOLA measurements of the Mars surface have 40 cm resolution and have reduced the global uncertainty in Mars topography from a few km to approx. 10 m. GLAS is a next generation lidar being developed as part of NASA's Icesat Mission for Earth orbit . The GLAS design combines a 10 cm precision surface lidar with a sensitive dual wavelength cloud and aerosol lidar. GLAS will precisely measure the heights of the Earth's polar ice sheets, determine the height profiles of the Earth's land topography, and profile the vertical backscatter of clouds and aerosols on a global scale. GLAS will fly on a small dedicated spacecraft in a polar orbit at 598 km altitude with an inclination of 94 degrees. GLAS is scheduled to launch in summer 2001 and to operate continuously for a minimum of 3 years with a goal of 5 years. The primary mission for GLAS is to measure the seasonal and annual changes in the heights of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. GLAS will measure the vertical distance to the ice sheet from orbit with 1064 nm pulses from a Nd:Yag laser at 40 Hz. Each 5 nsec wide laser pulse is used for a single range measurement. When over land GLAS will profile the heights of the topography and vegetation. The GLAS receiver uses a I m diameter telescope and a Si APD detector. The detector signal is sampled by an all digital receiver which records each surface echo waveform with I nsec resolution and a stored echo record lengths of either 200, 400, or 600 samples. Analysis of the echo waveforms within the instrument permits discrimination between cloud and surface echoes. Ground based echo analysis permits precise ranging, determining the roughness or slopes of the surface as well as the vertical distributions of vegetation illuminated by the laser, Errors in knowledge of the laser beam pointing angle can bias height measurements of sloped surfaces. For surfaces with 2 deg. slopes, knowledge of pointing angle of the beam centroid to about 8 urad is required to achieve 10 cm height accuracy. GLAS uses a stellar reference system (SRS) to determine the pointing angle of each laser firing relative to inertial space. The SRS uses a high precision star camera oriented toward local zenith whose measurements are combined with a gyroscope to determine the inertial orientation of the SRS optical bench. The far field pattern of each laser pulse is measured with a laser reference system (LRS). Optically measuring each laser far field pattern relative to the star camera and gyroscope permits the angular offsets of each laser pulse to be determined. GLAS will also determine the vertical distributions of clouds and aerosols by measuring atmospheric backscatter profiles at both 1064 and 532 nm. The 1064 nm measurements use an analog detector and profile the height and vertical structure of thicker clouds. Measurements at 532 nm use new highly sensitive photon counting detectors, and measure the height distributions of very thin clouds and aerosol layers. With averaging these can be used to determine the height of the planetary boundary layer. The instrument design and expected performance will be discussed.

Abshire, James B.↗
NASA NTRS2000

The Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) for the ICESAT Mission

The Laser In space Technology Experiment, Shuttle Laser Altimeter and the Mars Observer Laser Altimeter have demonstrated accurate measurements of atmospheric backscatter and Surface heights from space. The recent MOLA measurements of the Mars surface have 40 cm vertical resolution and have reduced the global uncertainty in Mars topography from a few km to about 5 m. The Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) is a next generation lidar for Earth orbit being developed as part of NASA's Icesat Mission. The GLAS design combines a 10 cm precision surface lidar with a sensitive dual wavelength cloud and aerosol lidar. GLAS will precisely measure the heights of the Earth's polar ice sheets, establish a grid of accurate height profiles of the Earth's land topography, and profile the vertical backscatter of clouds and aerosols on a global scale. GLAS is being developed to fly on a small dedicated spacecraft in a polar orbit with a 590 630 km altitude at inclination of 94 degrees. GLAS is scheduled to launch in the summer 2001 and to operate continuously for a minimum of 3 years with a goal of 5 years. The primary mission for GLAS is to measure the seasonal and annual changes in the heights of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. GLAS will continuously measure the vertical distance from orbit to the Earth's surface with 1064 nm pulses from a ND:YAG laser at a 40 Hz rate. Each 5 nsec wide laser pulse is used to produce a single range measurement, and the laser spots have 66 m diameter and about 170 m center-center spacings. When over land GLAS will profile the heights of the topography and vegetation. The GLAS receiver uses a 1 m diameter telescope and a Si APD detector. The detector signal is sampled by an all digital receiver which records each surface echo waveform with I nsec resolution and a stored echo record lengths of either 200, 400, or 600 samples. Analysis of the echo waveforms within the instrument permits discrimination between cloud and surface echoes. Ground based echo analysis permits precise ranging, determining the roughness or slopes of the surface as well as the vertical distributions of vegetation illuminated by the laser. Accurate knowledge of the laser beam's pointing angle is needed to prevent height biases when over sloped surfaces. For surfaces with 2 deg. slopes, knowledge of pointing angle of the beam's centroid to about 8 urad is needed to achieve 10 cm height accuracy. GLAS uses a stellar reference system (SRS) to determine the pointing angle of each laser firing relative to inertial space. The SRS uses a high precision star camera oriented toward local zenith and a gyroscope to determine the inertial orientation of the SRS optical bench. The far field pattern of each laser is measured pulse relative to the star camera with a laser reference system (LRS). Optically measuring each laser far field pattern relative to the orientation of the star camera and gyroscope permits the precise pointing angle of each laser pulse to be determined. GLAS will also determine the vertical distributions of clouds and aerosols by measuring the vertical profile of laser energy backscattered by the atmosphere at both 1064 and 532 nm. The 1064 nm measurements use the Si APD detector and profile the height and vertical structure of thicker clouds. The measurements at 532 nm use new highly sensitive photon counting, detectors, and measure the height distributions of very thin Clouds and aerosol layers. With averaging these can be used to determine the height of the planetary boundary layer. The instrument design and expected performance will be discussed.

Abshire, James B.↗
NASA NTRS2005

The Venus SAGE Atmospheric Structure Investigation

Experiment goals and objectives are: a) To accurately define the state properties as a function of altitude from below the 10(exp -4) mb level (approx.150 km) to 92 bars (surface); b) To measure the stability of the atmosphere, and identify convective layers and stable layers, where they exist; c) To detect cloud levels from changes in the lapse rate at their boundaries; d) To provide state properties within the cloud levels, and thus provide supplementary information on cloud composition; e) To search for and characterize wave structure within the atmosphere; f) To search for and measure the intensity and scale of turbulence; g) To measure descent and surface wind speed and direction; h) To provide Lander altitude and attitude during decent for descent imaging analysis; and i) To provide a back-up landing sensor.

Colaprete, Anthony↗
DOE OSTI2021

Factors controlling marine aerosol size distributions and their climate effects over the northwest Atlantic Ocean region

Abstract. Aerosols over Earth's remote and spatially extensive ocean surfaces have important influences on planetary climate. However, these aerosols and their effects remain poorly understood, in part due to the remoteness and limited observations over these regions. In this study, we seek to understand factors that shape marine aerosol size distributions and composition in the northwest Atlantic Ocean region. We use the GEOS-Chem model with the TwO-Moment Aerosol Sectional (TOMAS) microphysics algorithm model to interpret measurements collected from ship and aircraft during the four seasonal campaigns of the North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study (NAAMES) conducted between 2015 and 2018. Observations from the NAAMES campaigns show enhancements in the campaign-median number of aerosols with diameters larger than 3 nm in the lower troposphere (below 6 km), most pronounced during the phytoplankton bloom maxima (May/June) below 2 km in the free troposphere. Our simulations, combined with NAAMES ship and aircraft measurements, suggest several key factors that contribute to aerosol number and size in the northwest Atlantic lower troposphere, with significant regional-mean (40–60∘ N and 20–50∘ W) cloud-albedo aerosol indirect effect (AIE) and direct radiative effect (DRE) processes during the phytoplankton bloom. These key factors and their associated simulated radiative effects in the region include the following: (1) particle formation near and above the marine boundary layer (MBL) top (AIE: −3.37 W m−2, DRE: −0.62 W m−2); (2) particle growth due to marine secondary organic aerosol (MSOA) as the nascent particles subside into the MBL, enabling them to become cloud-condensation-nuclei-sized particles (AIE: −2.27 W m−2, DRE: −0.10 W m−2); (3) particle formation and growth due to the products of dimethyl sulfide, above and within the MBL (−1.29 W m−2, DRE: −0.06 W m−2); (4) ship emissions (AIE: −0.62 W m−2, DRE: −0.05 W m−2); and (5) primary sea spray emissions (AIE: +0.04 W m−2, DRE: −0.79 W m−2). Our results suggest that a synergy of particle formation in the lower troposphere (particularly near and above the MBL top) and growth by MSOA contributes strongly to cloud-condensation-nuclei-sized particles with significant regional radiative effects in the northwest Atlantic. To gain confidence in radiative effect magnitudes, future work is needed to understand (1) the sources and temperature dependence of condensable marine vapors forming MSOA, (2) primary sea spray emissions, and (3) the species that can form new particles in the lower troposphere and grow these particles as they descend into the marine boundary layer.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1990

An eight-month climatology of marine stratocumulus cloud fraction, albedo, and integrated liquid water

As part of the FIRE/Extended Time Observations (ETO) program, extended time observations were made at San Nicolas Island (SNI) from March to October, 1987. Hourly averages of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, solar irradiance, and downward longwave irradiance were recorded. The radiation sensors were standard Eppley pyranometers (shortwave) and pyrgeometers (longwave). The SNI data were processed in several ways to deduce properties of the stratocumulus covered marine boundary layer (MBL). For example, from the temperature and humidity the lifting condensation level, which is an estimate of the height of the cloud bottom, can be computed. A combination of longwave irradiance statistics can be used to estimate fractional cloud cover. An analysis technique used to estimate the integrated cloud liquid water content (W) and the cloud albedo from the measured solar irradiance is also described. In this approach, the cloud transmittance is computed by dividing the irradiance measured at some time by a clear sky value obtained at the same hour on a cloudless day. From the transmittance and the zenith angle, values of cloud albedo and W are computed using the radiative transfer parameterizations of Stephens (1978). These analysis algorithms were evaluated with 17 days of simultaneous and colocated mm-wave (20.6 and 31.65 GHz) radiometer measurements of W and lidar ceilometer measurements of cloud fraction and cloudbase height made during the FIRE IFO. The algorithms are then applied to the entire data set to produce a climatology of these cloud properties for the eight month period.

Fairall, C. W.↗
NASA NTRS2006

A Study of Rapidly Developing Low Cloud Ceilings in a Stable Atmosphere at the Florida Spaceport

Forecasters at the Space Meteorology Group (SMG) issue 30 to 90 minute forecasts for low cloud ceilings at the Shuttle Landing Facility (KTTS) in Kennedy Space Center, FL for all Space Shuttle missions. Mission verification statistics have shown cloud ceilings to be the biggest forecast challenge. SMG forecasters are especially concerned with rapidly developing cloud ceilings below 8000 ft. in a stable, capped thermodynamic environment because ceilings below 8000 ft restrict Shuttle landing operations and are the most challenging to predict accurately. This project involves the development of a database of these cases over east-central Florida in order to identify the onset, location, and if possible, dissipation times of rapidly-developing low cloud ceilings. Another goal is to document the atmospheric regimes favoring this type of cloud development to improve forecast skill of such events during Space Shuttle launch and landing operations. A 10-year database of stable, rapid low cloud development days during the daylight hours was compiled for the Florida cool-season months by examining the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station sounding data, and identifying days that had high boundary layer relative humidity associated with a thermally-capped environment below 8000 ft. Archived hourly surface observations from KTTS and Melbourne, Orlando, Sanford, and Ocala, FL were then examined for the onset of cloud ceilings below 8000 ft between 1100 and 2000 UTC. Once the database was supplemented with the hourly surface cloud observations, visible satellite imagery was examined in 30-minute intervals to confirm event occurrences. This paper will present results from some of the rapidly developing cloud ceiling cases and the prevailing meteorological conditions associated with these events, focusing on potential pre-curser information that may help improve their prediction.

FROM↗
DOE OSTI2023

Surface-based observations of cold-air outbreak clouds during the COMBLE field campaign

Abstract. Cold-air outbreaks (CAOs) are characterized by extreme air–sea energy exchanges and low-level convective clouds over large areas in the high-latitude oceans. As such, CAOs are an important component of the Earth's climate system. The CAOs in the Marine Boundary Layer Experiment (COMBLE) deployment of the US Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Mobile Facility (AMF) provided the first comprehensive view of CAOs using a suite of ground-based observations at the northern coast of Norway. Here, cloud and precipitation observations from 13 CAO cases during COMBLE are analyzed. A vertical air motion retrieval technique is applied to the Ka-band ARM Zenith-pointing Radar (KAZR) observations. The CAO cumulus clouds are characterized by strong updrafts with magnitudes between 2–8 m s−1, vertical extents of 1–3 km, and horizontal scales of 0.25–3 km. A strong relationship between our vertical air velocity retrievals and liquid water path (LWP) measurements is found. The LWP measurements exceed 1 kg m−2 in strong updraft areas, and the vertical extent of the updraft correlates well with the LWP values. The CAO cumulus clouds exhibit eddy dissipation rate values between 10−3 and 10−2 m2 s−3 in the lowest 10 km of the atmosphere, and using a radar Doppler spectra technique, evidence of secondary ice production is found during one of the cases.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2004

Real-Time Cloud, Radiation, and Aircraft Icing Parameters from GOES over the USA

A preliminary new, physically based method for realtime estimation of the probability of icing conditions has been demonstrated using merged GOES-10 and 12 data over the continental United States and southern Canada. The algorithm produces pixel-level cloud and radiation properties as well as an estimate of icing probability with an associated intensity rating Because icing depends on so many different variables, such as aircraft size or air speed, it is not possible to achieve 100% success with this or any other type of approach. This initial algorithm, however, shows great promise for diagnosing aircraft icing and putting it at the correct altitude within 0.5 km most of the time. Much additional research must be completed before it can serve as a reliable input for the operational CIP. The delineation of the icing layer vertical boundaries will need to be improved using either the RUC or balloon soundings or ceilometer data to adjust the cloud base height, a change that would require adjustment of the cloud-top altitude also.

Minnis, Patrick↗
DOE OSTI2022

Intercomparison of airborne and surface-based measurements during the CLARIFY, ORACLES and LASIC field experiments

Data are presented from intercomparisons between two research aircraft, the FAAM BAe-146 and the NASA Lockheed P3, and between the BAe-146 and the surface-based DOE (Department of Energy) ARM (Atmospheric Radiation Monitoring) Mobile Facility at Ascension Island (8 S, 14.5W, a remote island in the mid-Atlantic). These took place from 17 August to 5 September 2017, during the African biomass burning season. The primary motivation was to give confidence in the use of data from multiple platforms with which to evaluate numerical climate models. The three platforms were involved in the CLouds-Aerosol-Radiation Interaction and Forcing for Year 2017 (CLARIFY-2017), ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS (ORACLES), and Layered Atlantic Smoke and Interactions with Clouds (LASIC) field experiments. Comparisons from flight segments on six days where the BAe-146 flew alongside the ARM facility on Ascension Island are presented, along with comparisons from wing-tip to wing-tip flight of the P3 and BAe-146 on 18 th August 2017. The intercomparison flight sampled a relatively clean atmosphere overlying a moderately polluted boundary layer, while the 6 fly-bys of the ARM site sampled both clean and polluted conditions 2–4 km upwind. We compare and validate characterisations of aerosol physical, chemical, and optical properties, atmospheric radiation, and cloud microphysics between platforms. We assess the performance of measurement instrumentation in the field, under conditions where sampling conditions are not tightly controlled as in laboratory measurements where calibrations are performed. Solar radiation measurements compared well between airborne platforms. Optical absorption coefficient measurements compared well across all three platforms, even though absolute magnitudes were often low (< 10 Mm -1 ) and close to the sensitivity limits of measurement instrumentation thereby confounding assessments of the comparability of absorption Ångström exponent characterisations. Aerosol absorption measurements from airborne platforms were more comparable than aircraft-to-ground observations. Scattering coefficient observations compared well between airborne platforms, but agreement with ground-based measurements was worse, potentially caused by small differences in sampling conditions or actual aerosol population differences. Chemical composition measurements followed a similar pattern, with better comparisons between the airborne platforms. Thermodynamics, aerosol, and cloud microphysical properties generally compared well.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2016

What Controls the Vertical Distribution of Aerosol? Relationships Between Process Sensitivity in HadGEM3-UKCA and Inter-Model Variation from AeroCom Phase II

The vertical profile of aerosol is important for its radiative effects, but weakly constrained by observations on the global scale, and highly variable among different models. To investigate the controlling factors in one particular model, we investigate the effects of individual processes in HadGEM3-UKCA and compare the resulting diversity of aerosol vertical profiles with the inter-model diversity from the AeroCom Phase II control experiment. In this way we show that (in this model at least) the vertical profile is controlled by a relatively small number of processes, although these vary among aerosol components and particle sizes. We also show that sufficiently coarse variations in these processes can produce a similar diversity to that among different models in terms of the global-mean profile and, to a lesser extent, the zonal-mean vertical position. However, there are features of certain models' profiles that cannot be reproduced, suggesting the influence of further structural differences between models. In HadGEM3-UKCA, convective transport is found to be very important in controlling the vertical profile of all aerosol components by mass. In-cloud scavenging is very important for all except mineral dust. Growth by condensation is important for sulfate and carbonaceous aerosol (along with aqueous oxidation for the former and ageing by soluble material for the latter). The vertical extent of biomass-burning emissions into the free troposphere is also important for the profile of carbonaceous aerosol. Boundary-layer mixing plays a dominant role for sea salt and mineral dust, which are emitted only from the surface. Dry deposition and below-cloud scavenging are important for the profile of mineral dust only. In this model, the microphysical processes of nucleation, condensation and coagulation dominate the vertical profile of the smallest particles by number (e.g. total CN >3 nm), while the profiles of larger particles (e.g. CN>100 nm) are controlled by the same processes as the component mass profiles, plus the size distribution of primary emissions. We also show that the processes that affect the AOD-normalised radiative forcing in the model are predominantly those that affect the vertical mass distribution, in particular convective transport, in-cloud scavenging, aqueous oxidation, ageing and the vertical extent of biomass-burning emissions.

dust↗
NASA NTRS1985

Sea breeze-induced mesoscale systems and severe weather

The relationship between thunderstorm activity during the summer months along coastal regions of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts and the dry sea breeze circulation was investigated. Satellite composites of thunderstorm activity for synoptically undisturbed conditions have been obtained for south Florida for a series of days in the summer of 1983. These data were catalogued into different low level synoptic flow regimes. Five synoptic flow regimes were found from the data. A three-dimensional mesoscale numerical model was used for each sysnoptic flow regime to quantitatively predict the location of enhanced thunderstorm activity. This model includes a parameterization of vegetation and soil moisture feedbacks as well as a sophisticated planetary boundary layer representation. Using the results of the satellite image composites, spatial and temporal characteristics of deep convective cloud patterns and their variation with synoptic flow are described. The results from the numerical model have provided explanations for the observed patterns.

Pielke, R. A.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Mesoscale spiral vortex embedded within a Lake Michigan snow squall band - High resolution satellite observations and numerical model simulations

It is known that Great Lakes snow squall convection occurs in a variety of different modes depending on various factors such as air-water temperature contrast, boundary-layer wind shear, and geostrophic wind direction. An exceptional and often neglected source of data for mesoscale cloud studies is the ultrahigh resolution multispectral data produced by Landsat satellites. On October 19, 1972, a clearly defined spiral vortex was noted in a Landsat-1 image near the southern end of Lake Michigan during an exceptionally early cold air outbreak over a still very warm lake. In a numerical simulation using a three-dimensional Eulerian hydrostatic primitive equation mesoscale model with an initially uniform wind field, a definite analog to the observed vortex was generated. This suggests that intense surface heating can be a principal cause in the development of a low-level mesoscale vortex.

Lyons, Walter A.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

CERES Monthly Gridded Single Satellite Fluxes and Clouds (FSW) in HDF (CER_FSW_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Beta1)

The Monthly Gridded Radiative Fluxes and Clouds (FSW) product contains a month of space and time averaged Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data for a single scanner instrument. The FSW is also produced for combinations of scanner instruments. All instantaneous fluxes from the CERES CRS product for a month are sorted by 1-degree spatial regions and by the Universal Time (UT) hour of observation. The mean of the instantaneous fluxes for a given region-hour bin is determined and recorded on the FSW along with other flux statistics and scene information. The mean adjusted fluxes at the four atmospheric levels defined by CRS are also included for both clear-sky and total-sky scenes. In addition, four cloud height categories are defined by dividing the atmosphere into four intervals with boundaries at the surface, 700-, 500-, 300-hPa, and the Top-of-the-Atmosphere (TOA). The cloud layers from CRS are put into one of the cloud height categories and averaged over the region. The cloud properties are also column averaged and included on the FSW. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1998-01-01; Stop_Date=2000-03-31] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Latitude_Resolution=1 degree; Longitude_Resolution=1 degree; Horizontal_Resolution_Range=100 km - < 250 km or approximately 1 degree - < 2.5 degrees; Temporal_Resolution=1 month; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Monthly - < Annual].

CLOUD OVERLAP↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

CERES Monthly Gridded Single Satellite Fluxes and Clouds (FSW) in HDF (CER_FSW_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition2C)

The Monthly Gridded Radiative Fluxes and Clouds (FSW) product contains a month of space and time averaged Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data for a single scanner instrument. The FSW is also produced for combinations of scanner instruments. All instantaneous fluxes from the CERES CRS product for a month are sorted by 1-degree spatial regions and by the Universal Time (UT) hour of observation. The mean of the instantaneous fluxes for a given region-hour bin is determined and recorded on the FSW along with other flux statistics and scene information. The mean adjusted fluxes at the four atmospheric levels defined by CRS are also included for both clear-sky and total-sky scenes. In addition, four cloud height categories are defined by dividing the atmosphere into four intervals with boundaries at the surface, 700-, 500-, 300-hPa, and the Top-of-the-Atmosphere (TOA). The cloud layers from CRS are put into one of the cloud height categories and averaged over the region. The cloud properties are also column averaged and included on the FSW. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1998-01-01; Stop_Date=2005-12-31] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Latitude_Resolution=1 degree; Longitude_Resolution=1 degree; Horizontal_Resolution_Range=100 km - < 250 km or approximately 1 degree - < 2.5 degrees; Temporal_Resolution=1 month; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Monthly - < Annual].

NET FLUX↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

CERES) Monthly Gridded Single Satellite Fluxes and Clouds (FSW) in HDF (CER_FSW_Terra-FM2-MODIS_Edition2C)

The Monthly Gridded Radiative Fluxes and Clouds (FSW) product contains a month of space and time averaged Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data for a single scanner instrument. The FSW is also produced for combinations of scanner instruments. All instantaneous fluxes from the CERES CRS product for a month are sorted by 1-degree spatial regions and by the Universal Time (UT) hour of observation. The mean of the instantaneous fluxes for a given region-hour bin is determined and recorded on the FSW along with other flux statistics and scene information. The mean adjusted fluxes at the four atmospheric levels defined by CRS are also included for both clear-sky and total-sky scenes. In addition, four cloud height categories are defined by dividing the atmosphere into four intervals with boundaries at the surface, 700-, 500-, 300-hPa, and the Top-of-the-Atmosphere (TOA). The cloud layers from CRS are put into one of the cloud height categories and averaged over the region. The cloud properties are also column averaged and included on the FSW. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1998-01-01; Stop_Date=2001-10-31] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Latitude_Resolution=1 degree; Longitude_Resolution=1 degree; Horizontal_Resolution_Range=100 km - < 250 km or approximately 1 degree - < 2.5 degrees; Temporal_Resolution=1 month; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Monthly - < Annual].

CLOUD OVERLAP↗