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FLASHFlux: Fast Longwave And Shortwave Radiative Fluxes

Climate Data Guide Image: FLASHFlux

FLASHFlux provides near real-time (7-8 days) quantification of surface radiative fluxes which are important for understanding the impact of changes to the Earth's surface and the atmospheric state on surface radiative fluxes. An operational subsystem which uses a portion of the existing CERES processing system, merges CERES and MODIS observations from Terra and Aqua platforms. Several modifications to increase processing speed. This constitutes an important step in the understanding of weather and climate processes. Timely analysis of these fluxes also helps to characterize their spatial and temporal variability on regional and global scales. Later, (6-12 months), highly accurate CERES flux estimates are made available.

Key Strengths:

  • Near real-time (7-8 days) quantification of surface radiative fluxes

Key Limitations:

  • Algorithms not as sophisticated as CERES-EBAF

Years of Record

2016/11 to 2017/09
temporal metadataID:
FLASH_SSF_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Version3C_3C

Formats

Timestep

Daily

Domain

Global

Spatial Resolution

1x1

Missing Data Flag

missing data present

Earth system components and main variables

Atmosphere, Radiation

FLASHFlux: Fast Longwave And Shortwave Radiative Fluxes

FLASHFlux provides near real-time (7-8 days) quantification of surface radiative fluxes which are important for understanding the impact of changes to the Earth's surface and the atmospheric state on surface radiative fluxes. An operational subsystem which uses a portion of the existing CERES processing system, merges CERES and MODIS observations from Terra and Aqua platforms. Several modifications to increase processing speed. This constitutes an important step in the understanding of weather and climate processes. Timely analysis of these fluxes also helps to characterize their spatial and temporal variability on regional and global scales. Later, (6-12 months), highly accurate CERES flux estimates are made available.

Data Access: Please Cite data sources, following the data providers' instructions.

  1. FLASHFlux Data and Information

  1. L'Ecuyer, T. S. et al (2008): Impact of clouds on atmospheric heating based on the R04 CloudSat fluxes and heating rates data set. Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 113, D00A15
  2. Stackhouse, P.W. et al (2009): New results from FLASHFlux: A case study of the observed radiative anomalies in the Arctic for 2007 and 2008 summer seasons." 16th Conference on Satellite Meteorology and Oceanography, Phoenix, Arizona, January, 2009

Key Figures

Click the thumbnails to view larger sizes

Thumbnails

Captions
Climate Data Guide Image: FLASHFlux FLASHFlux: Top of atmosphere net flux July 7, 2012. (Climate Data Guide; D. Shea)

Cite this page

National Center for Atmospheric Research Staff (Eds). Last modified 08 Sep 2017. "The Climate Data Guide: FLASHFlux: Fast Longwave And Shortwave Radiative Fluxes." Retrieved from https://climatedataguide.ucar.edu/climate-data/flashflux-fast-longwave-and-shortwave-radiative-fluxes.

Acknowledgement of any material taken from this page is appreciated. On behalf of experts who have contributed data, advice, and/or figures, please cite their work as well.