CEOS EO HANDBOOK – MEASUREMENT INSTRUMENTS
Measurements > Atmosphere >
Radiation budget >
Upward long-wave irradiance at TOA


Measurement Definition*: Flux of the terrestrial radiation in the range 4-200 µm (thermal emission) moving to space through the top of the atmosphere - Physical unit [ W/m2 ], Accuracy unit [ W/m2 ]

Thematic Links
InstrumentStatus/
Accuracy
Instrument DescriptionMeasurement TechnologyTimeline
AMI
Advanced Meteorological Imager
Operational
Continuous monitoring capability for the near real-time generation of high-resolution meteorological products and long-term change analysis of land/sea surface temperature and cloud coverage.Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer
AVHRR/3
Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer/3
Operational
Measurements of land and sea surface temperature, cloud cover, snow and ice cover, soil moisture and vegetation indices. Data also used for volcanic eruption monitoring.Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer
CERES
Cloud and the Earth's Radiant Energy System
Operational
Long term measurement of the Earth's radiation budget and atmospheric radiation from the top of the atmosphere to the surface; provision of an accurate and self-consistent cloud and radiation database.n/a
ERM-1
Earth Radiation Measurement
Operational
Measures Earth radiation gains and losses on regional, zonal and global scales.n/a
ERM-2
Improved Earth Radiation Measurement
Operational
Measures Earth radiation gains and losses on regional, zonal and global scales.n/a
GERB
Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget
Operational
Measures long and short wave radiation emitted and reflected from the Earth's surface, clouds and top of atmosphere. Full Earth disk, all channels in 5 minutes.n/a
GOME-2
Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment - 2
Operational
Measurement of total column amounts and stratospheric and tropospheric profiles of ozone. Also amounts of H20, NO2, OClO, BrO, SO2 and HCHO.n/a
HIRS/4
High Resolution Infra-red Sounder/4
Operational
Atmospheric temperature profiles and data on cloud parameters, humidity soundings, water vapour, total ozone content, and surface temperatures. Same as HIRS/3, with 10 km IFOV.n/a
Imager
Imager
Operational
Measures cloud cover, atmospheric radiance, winds, atmospheric stability, rainfall estimates. Used to provide severe storm warnings/ monitoring day and night (type, amount, storm features).Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer
IRAS
InfraRed Atmospheric Sounder
Operational
Atmospheric sounding for weather forecasting.n/a
MSU-MR
Low-resolution multispectral scanning imager-radiometer
Operational
Parameters of clouds, snow, ice and land cover, vegetation, surface temperature, fire detection.Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer
SBUV/2
Solar Backscattter Ultra-Violet Instrument/2
Operational
Data on trace gases including vertical profile ozone, and solar irradiance and total ozone concentration measurements.n/a
SIM-2
Solar Irradiation Monitor-2
Operational
Solar irradiance monitoring.n/a
TIRS (PREFIRE)
Thermal Infrared Spectrometer
Operational
Pushbroom spectroradiometric imagers in highly inclined orbits to provide spectral fluxes, column-water vapor, surface emissivity and broadband radiances over majority of thermal wavelengths.n/a
CWFMS
Canadian Wildland Fire Monitoring Sensor
Being developed
Measurements are: Fire Radiative Power (FRP), hotspot locations, rate of spread, burned area mapping. Data products generated: 1) Fire maps, showing location, extent, and timing of forest fire events; 2) Fire characteristics, such as fire line intensity, rate of spread and fuel consumption; 3) Plume dynamics through smoke transport maps and plume heights; 4) Mass of carbon released into atmosphere.Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer
GXS
GeoXO Sounder
Being developed
 n/a
BBR (EarthCARE)
BroadBand Radiometer (EarthCARE)
Approved
Top of the atmosphere radiances and radiative flux.n/a
Advanced MSU-MR
Advanced Multispectral scanning imager-radiometer
Proposed
Parameters of clouds, snow, ice and land cover, vegetation, surface temperature, fire detection.Multi-purpose imaging Vis/IR radiometer
* Description adapted from WMO.