ERBE S-7: Monthly Satellite Earth Radiation Budget Data

NASA's Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) collected data from three satellites—ERBS, NOAA-9, and NOAA-10—to measure the planet's energy balance. The S-7 Monthly Medium-Wide Data Tape product provides a condensed, consistent set of non-scanner top-of-atmosphere radiant exitance estimates, independent of scanner instrument status. Data is aggregated monthly from 24-hour satellite records divided into 16-second intervals.

Use Cases

• Analyzing Earth's radiation budget trends using monthly aggregated non-scanner satellite measurements.
• Studying top-of-atmosphere radiant exitance over ocean under mostly cloudy conditions based on the bidirectional model.
• Comparing radiation data across multiple satellite platforms (ERBS, NOAA-9, NOAA-10).
• Investigating climate variability using a consistent long-term satellite data record independent of scanner operations.

Strengths

• Data originates from a multi-satellite system (ERBS, NOAA-9, NOAA-10), providing multiple observational perspectives.
• Provides a consistent long-term record by using non-scanner data independent of the operational status of the scanner instrument.

Limitations

• Column names and specific data structure are not provided in any source, hindering precise analysis.
• Conflicting metadata: one platform lists a last update date in 2026, while another lists 1999, creating uncertainty about data currency.
• Dataset size (rows, file size) is unknown across all sources.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Collected by scanner and non-scanner instrument packages aboard the ERBS, NOAA-9, and NOAA-10 satellites.

Freshness

1999-09-30 23:59:59.999000

Geography

Global