CERES Radiation And Validation Experiment (CRAVE)
The Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) experiment is one of the highest priority scientific satellite instruments developed for NASA’s Earth Observing System (EOS)
The CERES Radiation and Validation Experiment (CRAVE) provides continuous world-class surface radiation measurements and validation of CERES and other satellite products. CRAVE consists of three sites (2 active and 1 legacy). One active site is Granite Island in Lake Superior, established in the summer of 2018, located 19 km (12 mi.) due North of Marquette, Michigan, and 10 km (6 mi.) to the closest land point. The second active site is at NASA Langley in Hampton, Virginia, established December 2014. The legacy CERES Ocean Validation Experiment (COVE) at Chesapeake Light Station site was active from 2000-2016 and after 17 years of continuous operation has been indefinitely suspended due to structural concerns. COVE was located 25km (~15 mi.) to the closest land point in Virginia Beach.
All 3 sites belong to the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN), the gold standard for surface radiation measurements. The active sites are 2 of only 51 BSRN sites operational in the world.
Data Access
For data access please visit the current and archival program
links given below:
+ NASA_LaRC AERONET Station Level 1.0 AOD Data
+ Granite_Island AERONET Station Level 1.0 AOD Data
+ Vaisala Weather Data @ NASA LaRC 1196A
+ LaRC BSRN-PLUS DATA
+ GRANITE ISLAND BSRN-PLUS DATA
+ COVE BSRN-PLUS DATA
+ LEGACY COVE Site
