CERES
From INVESaTWIKI
CERES (Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System)
The CERES (Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System)instruments perform measurements of the Earth's "radiation budget," the process that maintains a balance between the energy that reaches the Earth from the sun, and the energy that goes from Earth back out to space. The critical components that affect the Earth's energy balance are the planet's surface, atmosphere, aerosols, and clouds.
CERES measured thermal radiation or heat emitted from the United States, as shown in this image from May 2001. The record-setting high temperatures experienced in Southern California and Nevada on May 9 are visible in the yellow areas where great amounts of thermal energy are escaping to space. The levels of energy increase from blue to red to yellow. This example illustrates one of the most basic stabilizing forces in the Earth's climate system: clear hot regions lose more energy to space than cold areas. The blue regions of low thermal emission over the northern U.S. are cold cloud tops. CERES data will be used to verify the ability of climate models to accurately predict this emission as our world experiences changes in surface reflectivity, clouds, atmospheric temperatures, and key greenhouse gases such as water vapor. [1]
