In this CERES image, clear warm regions, shown in yellow over much of the western United States, emit the most heat, while high, cold clouds, shown in blue and white, significantly reduce the amount of heat lost to space. Credit: NASA
In this CERES image, clear warm regions, shown in yellow over much of the western United States, emit the most heat, while high, cold clouds, shown in blue and white, significantly reduce the amount of heat lost to space. Credit: NASA Credit: NASA

SAN FRANCISCO — After more than a decade in orbit, the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES), an instrument first launched in 1997, is becoming more useful with each passing year. “Like wine, CERES gets better with time,” said Norman Loeb, CERES principal investigator at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. “The longer your data record, the more you learn.”

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Debra Werner is a correspondent for SpaceNews based in San Francisco. Debra earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree in Journalism from Northwestern University. She is a recipient...