CER_ES4_TRMM-PFM_Edition2 is the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE)-like Monthly Geographical Averages Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) proto flight model (PFM) Edition 2 data product. Data for this product was collected by the CERES PFM instrument on the TRMM platform. Data collection for this product is complete.

CER_ES4_TRMM-PFM_Edition2 data are CERES instrument Top-of-the-Atmosphere (TOA) fluxes that used algorithms identical to those used by ERBE, averaged regionally, zonally, and globally. The ERBE-like Monthly Geographical Averages (ES-4) product contains a month of space and time-averaged CERES data for a single scanner instrument. The ES-4 is also produced for combinations of scanner instruments. For each observed 2.5-degree spatial region, the daily average, the hourly average over the month, and the overall monthly average of shortwave and long-wave (LW) fluxes at the Top-of-the-Atmosphere (TOA) from the CERES ES-9 product are spatially nested up from 2.5-degree regions to 5- and 10-degree regions, to 2.5-, 5-, and 10-degree zonal averages, and to global monthly averages. For each nested area, the albedo and net flux are given. For each region, the daily average flux is estimated from an algorithm that uses the available hourly data, scene identification data, and diurnal models.

CERES is a key Earth Observing System (EOS) program component. The CERES instruments provide radiometric measurements of the Earth's atmosphere from three broadband channels. The CERES missions are a follow-on to the successful ERBE mission. The first CERES instrument, PFM, was launched on November 27, 1997, as part of the TRMM. Two CERES instruments (FM1 and FM2) were launched into polar orbit onboard the Earth Observing System (EOS) flagship Terra on December 18, 1999. Two additional CERES instruments (FM3 and FM4) were launched onboard Earth Observing System (EOS) Aqua on May 4, 2002. The CERES FM5 instrument was launched onboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite on October 28, 2011. The newest CERES instrument (FM6) was launched onboard the Joint Polar-Orbiting Satellite System 1 (JPSS-1) satellite, now called NOAA-20, on November 18, 2017.