CERES Clouds and Radiative Swath TRMM Edition2C

CER_CRS_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2C is the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) Clouds and Radiative Swath (CRS) Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Edition2C data product, which was collected using the CERES-protoflight model (PFM) instrument on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) platform. Data collection for this product is complete.

The CER_CRS_TRMM-PFM-VIRS_Edition2C data product is computed Top-of-Atmosphere (TOA)/surface/profile fluxes using Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) clouds and aerosols from Single Scanner Footprint (SSF) obtained from the TRMM PFM instrument.The Clouds and Radiative Swath (CRS) product contains one hour of instantaneous CERES data for a single scanner instrument. CRS contains all of the CERES SSF product data. For each CERES footprint on the SSF, the CRS also contains vertical flux profiles evaluated at four levels in the atmosphere: the surface, 500-, 70-, and 1-hPa. The CRS fluxes and cloud parameters are adjusted for consistency with a radiative transfer model and adjusted fluxes are evaluated at the four atmospheric levels for both clear-sky and total-sky.

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, protoflight model (PFM), was launched on November 27, 1997 as part of the TRMM. Two CERES instruments (FM1 and FM2) were launched into polar orbit on board the Earth Observing System (EOS) flagship Terra on December 18, 1999. Two additional CERES instruments (FM3 and FM4) were launched on board Earth Observing System (EOS) Aqua on May 4, 2002. The CERES FM5 instrument was launched on board the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite on October 28, 2011. The newest CERES instrument (FM6) was launched on board the Joint Polar-Orbiting Satellite System 1 (JPSS-1) satellite, now called NOAA-20, on November 18, 2017.