Instantaneous Outgoing Shortwave Flux (WMS)

  • Released Tuesday, February 1, 2005
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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. Reflected solar radiation is shortwave radiation, and the most intense reflection comes from clouds, followed by ice. Land reflects only a small amount of radiation, but ocean reflects the least, which is the reason that the sun heats the oceans so effectively. Of course, there is no reflected solar radiation in regions of night.

This animation shows 29 orbits (2 days) of CERES
measurements of outgoing shortwave radiation, from June 20-21, 2003.

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This is the legend for the Outgoing Shortwave Flux animation, indicating the magnitudes of the reflected energy flux.

This is the legend for the Outgoing Shortwave Flux
animation, indicating the magnitudes of the reflected energy flux.

For More Information

See http://asd-www.larc.nasa.gov/ceres/ASDceres.html

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Scientific Visualization Studio

This page was originally published on Tuesday, February 1, 2005.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:56 PM EDT.

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