Libera - Understanding Earth's Energy Budget

The recently selected Earth Venture Continuity-1 mission, Libera, will seamlessly extend the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) Earth radiation budget (ERB) observations from space. Similar to the predecessor instruments, Libera will measure broadband total, shortwave, and longwave radiances at unprecedented accuracy, collocated with spectral imager information from VIIRS to be ingested into the CERES data record production streams. The ERB continuity goal is accompanied by science goals and objectives that aim at the development of a self-contained, innovative and affordable ERB observing system, and to provide new and enhanced capability to extend ERB science applications. The additional split-shortwave channel (0.7 to 5 μm) will enable us to study the visible and near-IR contributions to shortwave absorption, feedbacks, and planetary albedo variability. The hemispheric symmetry of planetary albedo, as observed by CERES, is not achieved by most state-of-the-art climate models and is associated with long-standing biases in circulation and cloud properties. We will exemplify the study of processes relevant to albedo symmetry by means of CMIP6 simulations that provide the visible and near-IR fluxes. Future Libera measurements will enable a more probing form of model evaluation and a "quasi-spectral" footprint of the shortwave disposition in the climate system.