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CERES-MODIS and hourly geostationary cloud properties stratified by ISCCP cloud types for day and night.

Metadata Updated: September 19, 2025

CER_CldTypHist_GEO-MODIS_Edition4A is the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES)- Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and hourly geostationary cloud properties stratified by the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) cloud types for day and night Edition 4A data product. Data collection is ongoing. The CERES-MODIS and hourly geostationary cloud properties (CldTypHist) data product contain monthly and one-hourly gridded regional mean cloud properties as a function of 18 cloud types, where the cloud properties are stratified by pressure, optical depth, and phase. Data is available day and night. The CldTypHist product combines cloud properties from Terra-MODIS (10:30 AM local equator crossing time LECT), Aqua-MODIS (1:30 PM LECT), and geostationary satellites (GEO) to provide the most diurnally complete product. The GEO cloud properties have been normalized with MODIS for diurnal consistency. The CERES MODIS-derived cloud properties are not the official NASA MODIS cloud retrievals but are based on the CERES cloud working group retrievals that are also available in other CERES products. The CERES MODIS-derived cloud properties provide coverage from pole to pole. The hourly GEO cloud properties come from five satellites at 8km nominal resolution with coverage limited to equatorward of 60 degrees. The GEO cloud retrievals incorporate additional channels as they become available on improved geostationary satellites that replaced earlier ones in the time period. The geostationary calibration is normalized to Terra-MODIS. Each CldTypHist file covers a single month.CERES is a key component of the Earth Observing System (EOS) program. The CERES instruments provide radiometric measurements of the Earth's atmosphere from three broadband channels. The CERES missions are a follow-on to the successful Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) mission. The first CERES instrument, the proto flight 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 onboard the Earth Observing System (EOS) flagship Terra on December 18, 1999. Two additional CERES instruments (FM3 and FM4) were launched onboard Earth Observing System (EOS) Aqua on May 4, 2002. The CERES FM5 instrument was launched onboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite on October 28, 2011. The newest CERES instrument (FM6) was launched onboard the Joint Polar-Orbiting Satellite System 1 (JPSS-1) satellite, now called NOAA-20, on November 18, 2017.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date April 11, 2025
Metadata Updated Date September 19, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from NASA Data.json

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date April 11, 2025
Metadata Updated Date September 19, 2025
Publisher NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC
Maintainer
Identifier 10.5067/TERRA+AQUA/CERES/CLDTYPHIST_L3.004
Data Last Modified 2025-09-10
Category Earth Science
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 026:00
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 8d5acee1-5193-444f-8f09-3b321a0d5d18
Harvest Source Id 58f92550-7a01-4f00-b1b2-8dc953bd598f
Harvest Source Title NASA Data.json
Homepage URL https://ceres.larc.nasa.gov/
Old Spatial "CARTESIAN",{"Boundary":{"Points":{"Latitude":-90,"Longitude":-180},{"Latitude":-90,"Longitude":180},{"Latitude":90,"Longitude":180},{"Latitude":90,"Longitude":-180},{"Latitude":-90,"Longitude":-180}}}
Program Code 026:000
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 16c63ee86e3768382f4e81dd314c16a8754f2717d103564b2f5ae334abb84949
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial
Temporal 2000-03-01/2000-03-01

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