Is the heat budget of the planet changing? Thermometers on the ground can give us a snapshot of a summer heatwave or winter cold spell, but it takes something like NASA's CERES instruments to give a long term picture of whether the planet is keeping more of its heat than it loses back into space.

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The doors are open on NASA's Suomi NPP satellite and the newest version of the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument is scanning Earth for the first time, helping to assure continued availability of measurements of the energy leaving the Earth-atmosphere system.

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Two years ago, scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., released a study claiming that inconsistencies between satellite observations of Earth's heat and measurements of ocean heating were evidence there is "missing energy" in the planet's system.

Where was it going? An international team of atmospheric scientists and oceanographers, led by Norman Loeb of NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., and including Graeme Stephens of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., set out to investigate the mystery.

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Researchers claim to have solved the "missing energy" discrepancy between atmospheric and ocean temperature measurements, while at the same time showing that the Earth continued to accumulate heat during the last decade.

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This image is from the first test scans of Langley's Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument aboard a NASA Earth-observing satellite launched Oct. 28 this year from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The CERES instrument targeted the Baltimore-Washington area as the satellite it is aboard passed over the region in the course of its polar orbit.

The scans are to make sure planning tools and orbital predictions are accurate. The scans are used for field missions and for ground truth validation purposes.

The CERES engineering checkouts are leading up to "first light" Dec. 11, when the instrument's covers will be opened and it will begin taking Earth-viewing data for the first time.

CERES is one of five science instruments on the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) spacecraft. CERES and two other instruments will provide critical data to help scientists understand the dynamics of long-term climate patterns. Two other instruments will collect data that will help meteorologists improve short-term weather forecasts.

CERES is the latest version of the instrument, which has studied Earth's climate for nearly 30 years, focusing on the heat the planet emits and the role of clouds in that process.

NASA's National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP) spacecraft carrying NASA Langley's CERES FM5 instrument was launched aboard a Delta II rocket at 5:48 a.m. EDT on Friday, October 28, on a mission to measure both global climate changes and key weather variables.

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The Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) flight model five (FM5) will launch on the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP) on October 28. NPP is the first mission designed to collect critical data to improve weather forecasts in the short-term and increase our understanding of long-term climate change. NPP continues observations of Earth from space that NASA has pioneered for more than 40 years. CERES FM5 extends NASA Langley's critical Earth radiation budget climate data record, which is fundamental to the understanding and prediction of climate change.

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The NPP satellite has 5 instruments on board: VIIRS, CERES, CrIS, ATMS, and OMPS. Each one will deliver a specific set of data helping weather prediction and climate studies. This video is a quick overview of each instrument and its placement on the spacecraft done at the Ball Aerospace clean room by the NPP Systems Engineer Rob Baltrum.

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The consequences of global warming are not only challenging, but they are far-reaching, which is why NASA maintains a strong scientific focus on climatic and global change research. As the growing human population continues to burn fossil fuels and release carbon into the atmosphere at an accelerated rate, we are faced with a complex problem: a warming Earth.

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In October when NASA launches its next-generation Earth-observing satellite, NPP (NPOESS Preparatory Project), one of the passengers aboard will be the latest in a series of instruments that has studied the Earth's climate for nearly 30 years.

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