A recovery and comparison of shortwave radiances measured by CERES instruments operating on TRMM and Terra satellites

A comparison of shortwave unfiltered radiances measured by CERES instruments operating on two different platforms, TRMM and Terra satellites, is presented. A focus of this paper is twofold: a summary of the recovery of data obtained by the CERES instrument (PFM) failing sensors at the end of its useful life in April and June of 2000, and validation of the recovered data. The data recovery is necessary as deteriorating electronics of the PFM polluted data with cross-talk and noise preventing data processing. It is shown that a pattern recognition is an effective strategy in the data clean-up. The validation is performed by comparing shortwave measurements obtained by the CERES instrument (FM1), on board the Terra satellite, to the recovered PFM data. Comparisons are made for the data collected when orbits of both satellites cross, and viewing geometries of the instruments match.