GEWEX SRB Rel-4: Land-Only Longwave Radiative Fluxes

Global land-only fields provide 26 longwave radiative parameters at the surface, Top of Atmosphere, and atmospheric profiles. Derived data includes all-sky, clear-sky, and pristine-sky upward and downward fluxes at the tropopause, 200hPa, 500hPa, and surface levels. Inputs are based on cloud data from ISCCP HXS, meteorology from ISCCP nnHIRS, Landflux surface, and MERRA-2 conditionally.

Use Cases

• Validating climate model longwave radiation outputs based on observed all-sky and clear-sky TOA fluxes.
• Analyzing atmospheric heating rates using upward and downward radiative flux profiles at pressure levels.
• Studying surface energy balance over land regions using surface-level longwave flux parameters.
• Assessing cloud radiative forcing by comparing pristine-sky and all-sky flux conditions.

Strengths

• Provides a specific set of 26 longwave radiative parameters derived from a recognized international project (GEWEX SRB).
• Covers a defined multi-year temporal range, with data collection marked as complete.
• Cross-platform presence on NASA Earthdata and Data.gov signals established curation and importance.

Limitations

• Column names and precise data structure are unknown across all sources, limiting immediate usability.
• The dataset is an extension with land-only fluxes due to a missing key input, indicating it is not the complete integrated product.
• Metadata for the ancillary input dataset lists a last updated date in 1987, suggesting potential issues with metadata freshness.

Provenance

Source

NASA World Climate Research Programme/Global Energy and Water-Cycle Experiment (WCRP/GEWEX) Surface Radiation Budget (SRB) Project.

Collection Method

Derived using the Longwave algorithm with inputs from ISCCP HXS (clouds), ISCCP nnHIRS (meteorology), Landflux surface, and MERRA-2.

Time Range

July 1983 through December 1987

Freshness

2026-04-10 03:20:08.382150

Geography

Global (land-only)