NASA Scientific Visualization Studio Collection

Instantaneous Outgoing Shortwave Flux (WMS)

Aqua/CERES

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

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.

2005-02-01

*Please give credit for this visualization to*
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Scientific Visualization Studio

SVS

Horace Mitchell (Lead)

Eric Sokolowsky

Bruce Wielicki (NASA/LaRC)

WMS

2003/06/20-2003/06/2 2

*DEPC Metadata* is available here.

GCMD

EARTH SCIENCE

Atmosphere

Oceans

Atmospheric Radiation

Ocean Heat Budget

Shortwave Radiation

More Information on this topic available at
http://asd-www.larc…

*This product is available through our Web Map Service. Click here to learn more. [ http://svs.gsfc.nas…]*

Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)

Langley Research Center (LaRC)

2003

Earth

Aqua

Sun

WMS

2003

3108

SPD-SCIVS-http://svs .gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a 000000/a003100/a0031 08/outswbar.0000-IMA GE

http://svs.gsfc.nas…