GEWEX SRB Rel-4: Global Longwave & Shortwave Radiative Fluxes
Updated 1mo ago
11filesBIN
Available on 2 platforms
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Description
26 longwave and 11 shortwave radiative parameters are derived from satellite and reanalysis inputs for the GEWEX Surface Radiation Budget Project. The dataset provides all-sky, clear-sky, and pristine-sky fluxes at the surface, tropopause, 200hPa, 500hPa, and Top of Atmosphere, with temporal coverage from July 1983 to June 2017. Data products are available at 3-hourly, daily, and monthly resolutions, with separate land-only and ocean-only versions for specific periods.
Use Cases
Analyzing outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) trends based on all-sky and clear-sky TOA upward fluxes.
Modeling atmospheric heating profiles using upward and downward radiative fluxes at pressure levels (tropopause, 200hPa, 500hPa).
Studying surface energy balance by comparing all-sky and pristine-sky downward and upward surface fluxes.
Investigating photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) for vegetation studies using shortwave surface parameters.
Validating climate models with global, gridded fields of cloud radiative forcing derived from cloud property inputs.
Strengths
Provides a long-term, global record from July 1983 to June 2017, enabling climate trend analysis.
Includes 26 distinct longwave and 11 distinct shortwave parameters, offering detailed radiative profiling.
Derived from established satellite projects (ISCCP) and reanalysis (MERRA-2), using peer-reviewed algorithms.
Limitations
Key metadata is missing: specific column names, row counts, file sizes, and detailed license terms are not provided.
The dataset is fragmented into separate land-only (1983-1987) and ocean-only (2010-2017) products, creating a temporal gap for a unified global view from 1988-2009.
Data collection is stated as complete, indicating no updates beyond the listed end dates.
Provenance
Source
NASA World Climate Research Programme/Global Energy and Water-Cycle Experiment (WCRP/GEWEX) Surface Radiation Budget (SRB) Project.
Collection Method
Algorithm-derived from inputs including ISCCP cloud data, ISCCP nnHIRS meteorology, SeaFlux/Landflux surface data, MERRA-2 reanalysis, SORCE TIM solar irradiance, and MAC V1 aerosols.
Time Range
July 1983 through June 2017 (widest coverage from shortwave products).
Freshness
Most recent platform update was 2026-04-10, though the underlying data collection ended in June 2017.
Geography
Global fields.
License is listed as 'other-license-specified' but details are not provided. Users must separate land-only and ocean-only data for specific time periods as no single product covers the entire globe for the full 1983-2017 period.