CLOUDS AND THE EARTHS RADIANT ENERGY SYSTEM (CERES) - AN EARTH OBSERVING SYSTEM EXPERIMENT

Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) is an investigati on to examine the role of cloud/radiation feedback in the Earth's clim ate system. The CERES broadband scanning radiometers are an improved v ersion of the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) radiometers. Th e CERES instruments will fly on several National Aeronautics and Space Administration Earth Observing System (EOS) satellites starting in 19 98 and extending over at least 15 years. The CERES science investigati ons will provide data to extend the ERBE climate record of top-of-atmo sphere shortwave (SW) and longwave (LW) radiative fluxes. CERES will a lso combine simultaneous cloud property data derived using EOS narrowb and imagers to provide a consistent set of cloud/radiation data, inclu ding SW and LW radiative fluxes at the surface and at several selected levels within the atmosphere. CERES data are expected to provide top- of-atmosphere radiative fluxes with a factor of 2 to 3 less error than the ERBE data. Estimates of radiative fluxes at the surface and espec ially within the atmosphere will be a much greater challenge but shoul d also show significant improvements over current capabilities.