Earth  ID: 3175

Outgoing Shortwave Flux Compared to Clouds (WMS)

Visualizations by Horace Mitchell Released on June 21, 2005
The Earth's climate is determined by energy transfer from the sun to the Earth's land, oceans, and atmosphere. As the Earth rotates, the sun lights up only part of the Earth at a time, and some of that incoming solar energy is reflected and some is absorbed, depending on type of area it lights. The amount of reflection and absorption is critical to the climate. An instrument named CERES orbits the Earth every 99 minutes and measures the reflected solar energy. This animation shows the reflected solar radiation measured by CERES during 29 orbits on June 20 and 21 of 2003 over infrared cloud images for the same period. Reflected solar radiation is shortwave radiation, and the most intense reflection comes from clouds.
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This animation shows 29 orbits (2 days) of CERES measurements of outgoing shortwave radiation, from June 20-21, 2003. The measurements are superimposed over a global infrared cloud cover composite from the same period.

This product is available through our Web Map Service.
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This is the legend for the outgoing shortwave radiation, indicating the magnitudes of the reflected energy flux.

For More Information

https://ceres.larc.nasa.gov/

Visualization Credits

Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC): Lead Animator
Eric Sokolowsky (GST): Animator
Bruce A. Wielicki (NASA/LaRC): Scientist
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

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https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3175

Data Used:
GOES-9/Imager
2003/06/20-2003/06/21
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GOES-12/Imager
2003/06/20-2003/06/21
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GOES-10/Imager
2003/06/20-2003/06/21
view all stories where this data set is used
Meteosat-7/VISSR
2003/06/20-2003/06/21
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Aqua/CERES/Outgoing Shortwave Radiation Flux
2003/06/20-2003/06/21
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GMS-5/Spin-Scan Imager/Cloud Cover
2003/06/20-2003/06/21
view all stories where this data set is used
GOES-10/Imager/Cloud Cover
2003/06/20-2003/06/21
view all stories where this data set is used
GOES-12/Imager/Cloud Cover
2003/06/20-2003/06/21
view all stories where this data set is used
METEOSAT-6/MVIRI/Cloud Cover
2003/06/20-2003/06/21
view all stories where this data set is used
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.

This item is part of this series:
WMS

Keywords:
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Atmosphere >> Atmospheric Radiation >> Shortwave Radiation
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Atmosphere >> Clouds >> Cloud Reflectance
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Oceans >> Ocean Heat Budget >> Shortwave Radiation
SVS >> GOES
SVS >> CERES
NASA Science >> Earth

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0