CERES Global Cloud Fraction - related image preview

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CERES Global Cloud Fraction

For more than a decade, students from around the world have been participating with NASA in a science project called Students Cloud Observations Online, or S’COOL. January 13, 2009, marks the twelfth anniversary of the launch of the program, in which students record cloud type, cover, height, and thickness at times that coincide with satellite overpasses. They submit their observations to NASA via the Web, providing scientists with information to spot check the accuracy of some kinds of cloud data from satellites.

Cloud fraction—the percent of the sky within a set area that is cloud covered—is one type of satellite cloud data for which students are making matching observations. The map shows low-altitude cloud fraction. Areas of clear skies are blue, while areas that were 100 percent cloudy are white. The map combines observations collected on December 27, 2008, by the CERES sensors on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites. (Terra crosses southward over the equator in the morning; Aqua crosses northward over the equator in the afternoon. Together, they provide a global picture of Earth’s cloudiness each day.)

In the image, low clouds were more common over the ocean than over land, with the cloud-free skies over Earth’s driest areas standing out most prominently: the Sahara, Australia, Antarctica, southwest Asia, and the Tibetan Plateau.

Clouds are important to map because they have a major influence on how much sunlight the Earth absorbs and reflects, as well as how freely heat radiated from the surface can escape to space. Clouds that reflect sunlight cool the Earth, while clouds that trap outgoing heat warm the Earth. Which influence is stronger depends on the kind of cloud (water or ice), the cloud height (low altitude or high altitude), the time of day when the cloud forms, and numerous other variables. Being able to map the amount and height of clouds from satellites is a key part of scientists’ efforts to understand and predict climate change.


NASA images created by Jesse Allen, using CERES FLASHFlux data provided courtesy of FLASHFlux team at NASA’s Langley Research Center. Caption by Rebecca Lindsey.

Published May 7, 2012
Data acquired December 27, 2008

Source:
Aqua > CERES
Collection:
Visible Earth