The Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) is part of NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS). CERES objectives include the following. 1) For climate change analysis, provide a continuation of the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) record of radiative fluxes at the top-of-the-atmosphere (TOA), analyzed using the same techniques as the existing ERBE data. 2) Double the accuracy of estimates of radiative fluxes at TOA and the earth's surface; 3) Provide the first long-term global estimates of the radiative fluxes within the earth's atmosphere. 4) Provide cloud property estimates collocated in space and time that are consistent with the radiative fluxes from surface to TOA. In order to accomplish these goals, CERES uses data from a combination of spaceborne instruments: CERES scanners, which are an improved version of the ERBE broadband radiome

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The CERES Flight Model 1 and 2 instruments were launched aboard NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) Terra Spacecraft on December 18, 1999 into a 705 Km sunsynchronous orbit with a 10:30 a.m. equatorial crossing time. These instruments supplement measurements made by the CERES Proto Flight Model (PFM) instrument launched aboard NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) spacecraft on November 27, 1997 into a 350 Km, 38-degree mid-inclined orbit. An important aspect of the EOS program is the rapid archival and dissemination of datasets measured by EOS instruments to the scientific community. On September 22, 2000 the CERES Science Team voted to archive the Edition 1 CERES/Terra Level 1b and Level 2 and 3 ERBE-Like data products. These products consist of instantaneous filtered and unfiltered radiances through temporally and spatially averaged TOA fluxes. CERES filtered radiance measurements cover three spectral bands including shortwave (0.3 to 5 µ µm), total (0.3 to <100 µ µm) and an atmospheric window channel (8 to 12 µ µm). The current work summarizes both the philosophy and results of validation efforts undertaken to quantify the quality of the Terra data products as well as the level of agreement between the Terra and TRMM datasets.