GEWEX SRB Rel-4: Longwave Radiation Fluxes, 1988-2009

GEWEX SRB Release 4-Integrated Product provides 26 longwave radiative parameters for the Earth's surface, atmosphere, and top of atmosphere. This daily-averaged dataset includes all-sky, clear-sky, and pristine-sky upward and downward fluxes at multiple atmospheric levels, derived from satellite and reanalysis inputs. Its global coverage spans from January 1988 through December 2009.

Use Cases

• Modeling outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) based on the provided TOA upward flux parameters.
• Analyzing atmospheric heating profiles using upward and downward fluxes at the tropopause, 200hPa, and 500hPa levels.
• Studying cloud radiative forcing by comparing all-sky, clear-sky, and pristine-sky flux conditions.
• Validating climate model outputs against observed longwave surface radiation budget components.

Strengths

• Provides a 22-year continuous temporal record from 1988 to 2009.
• Contains 26 distinct radiative parameters, offering a multi-level atmospheric profile.
• Integrates multiple authoritative input sources, including ISCCP cloud data and MERRA-2 reanalysis.

Limitations

• Metadata completeness is low: column names, row counts, and exact file sizes are unknown across all sources.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates exist between platforms (2009 vs. 2026), suggesting potential metadata staleness.
• Data collection ended in 2009, limiting analysis to historical periods.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Derived via the GEWEX SRB Longwave algorithm using ISCCP HXS cloud data, ISCCP nnHIRS meteorology, SeaFlux SST, LandFlux meteorology, and MERRA-2 conditionally.

Time Range

January 1988 through December 2009

Freshness

2026-04-10 03:20:05.419151 (from datagov, though this may be a metadata update)

Geography

Global