GEWEX SRB Release 4 Longwave Fluxes with Atmospheric Profiles

26 longwave radiative parameters provide global fields of surface, Top of Atmosphere, and atmospheric profile fluxes. This integrated product synthesizes inputs from ISCCP, SeaFlux, LandFlux, and MERRA-2 sources. The dataset is produced by the NASA World Climate Research Programme/Global Energy and Water-Cycle Experiment (WCRP/GEWEX) Surface Radiation Budget Project.

Use Cases

• Validating climate model outputs of outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) using the TOA upward flux columns.
• Analyzing the vertical distribution of atmospheric heating by comparing upward and downward fluxes at the tropopause, 200hPa, and 500hPa levels.
• Studying surface energy balance by examining all-sky, clear-sky, and pristine-sky upward and downward longwave fluxes at the surface.
• Investigating cloud radiative effects by contrasting all-sky fluxes with clear-sky and pristine-sky fluxes across the atmospheric column.
• Assessing data quality and input sources using the included status flag for filled cloud properties.

Strengths

• Contains 26 distinct longwave radiative parameters, offering detailed vertical profile data from the surface to the tropopause.
• Derived from a multi-source integrated product combining cloud, meteorology, and surface flux data from established satellite and reanalysis projects.
• Provides data under three sky conditions (all-sky, clear-sky, pristine-sky), enabling isolation of cloud and aerosol effects.

Limitations

• Sources conflict on temporal coverage: one platform states January 1988 to December 2009, while another lists July 1983 to June 2017 for a related shortwave product, creating uncertainty for the longwave dataset's full range.
• Specific column names, row counts, and total dataset size are not provided by any source, limiting precise technical assessment.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Algorithmic derivation using the GEWEX SRB Longwave algorithm, with inputs from ISCCP HXS cloud data, ISCCP nnHIRS meteorology, SeaFlux SST, LandFlux meteorology, and MERRA-2 conditionally.

Time Range

January 1988 through December 2009 (based on the most specific longwave product description).

Freshness

2026-03-13 02:42:09.814156

Geography

Global