Data Systems for the CERES FM5 Instrument on board the NPOESS Preparatory Project

Clouds and Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) is one of NASA’s highest priority, Earth observing System (EOS) scientific instruments. CERES is a three-channel scanning radiometer that measures reflected sunlight and emitted radiation. The CERES science team integrates data from four space-based CERES scanners and two MODIS imagers on board both the Terra and Aqua spacecraft as well as more than twenty additional data sources that include space based sensors and model data. CERES data products provide critical cloud and Earth radiation budget climate data records to support global climate change research. CERES flight model five will soon be launched on board the NPOESS Preparatory Project mission to continue the CERES data record. Instrument data flow from the NPP spacecraft to the CERES science and data management teams will be significantly different than data flow and CERES on board Terra and Aqua. Since CERES provides a climate data record, CERES instruments and associated imager instruments must be consistently calibrated over the life of all CERES instruments to ensure a consistent data record. Therefore, for NPP CERES will leverage existing infrastructure to obtain, analyze and process data. Data from NPP will flow from the command and control segment to the Interface Data Processing Segment (IDPS) and then to the Science Data Segment (SDS) at Goddard Space Flight Center. The SDS Data Distribution and Depository Element (SD3E) performs data integrity checking for data from NPP instruments and stages data for pickup by one or more of five Product Evaluation and Analysis Tool Elements (PEATE). CERES scanner data and Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) data are retrieved by the Land PEATE. CERES Raw Data Records (RDR) and Sub-sampled VIIRS Environmental Data Records (EDR) are then retrieved and ingested into the Atmospheric Science Data Center at Langley Research Center for analysis and processing by the CERES Science and Data Management teams.