Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) is on-going NASA climatological experiment from Earth orbit. The CERES are scientific satellite instruments, part of the NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS), designed to measure both solar-reflected and Earth-emitted radiation from the top of the atmosphere (TOA) to the Earth's surface. Cloud properties are determined using simultaneous measurements by other EOS instruments such as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Results from the CERES and other NASA missions, such as the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE), will lead to a better understanding of the role of clouds and the energy cycle in global climate change.
This is longwave flux radiation at the top-of-atmosphere from Jan 26-27, 2012. Heat energy radiated from Earth (in watts per square meter) is shown in shades of yellow, red, blue and white. The brightest-yellow areas are the hottest and are emitting the most energy out to space, while the dark blue areas and the bright white clouds are much colder, emitting the least energy. CERES Top-of-Atmophere (TOA) shortwave flux radiation shows energy received from the sun on Jan 26 and 27, 2012.Read more about Clouds And The Earth's Radiant Energy System: Scientific Goals, CERES Instruments, Operating Modes
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An immense suppression, freed,
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Except to be happy, without knowing how,
Imposing forms they cannot describe,
Requiring order beyond their speech.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
““Our earth is degenerate in these latter days. Bribery and corruption are common. Children no longer obey their parents. . . . The end of the world is evidently approaching.” Sound familiar? It is, in fact, the lament of a scribe in one of the earliest inscriptions to be unearthed in Mesopotamia, where Western civilization was born.”
—C. John Sommerville (20th century)
“only total expression
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less than total is a bucketful of radiant toys.”
—Archie Randolph Ammons (b. 1926)
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—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)