GEWEX SRB Rel-4: Ocean-Only Longwave Radiation Fluxes

GEWEX SRB Release 4-Integrated Product provides global, ocean-only fields of longwave radiative parameters. The dataset contains 26 parameters, including all-sky, clear-sky, and pristine-sky upward and downward fluxes at the surface, tropopause, and pressure levels. Data covers January 2010 through June 2017 and is derived from inputs like ISCCP cloud data, SeaFlux SST, and MERRA-2 meteorology.

Use Cases

• Analyzing outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) trends over oceans based on the provided TOA upward flux parameters.
• Studying atmospheric heating profiles using the radiative fluxes at different pressure levels (e.g., 200hPa, 500hPa).
• Investigating cloud radiative forcing by comparing all-sky, clear-sky, and pristine-sky flux conditions.
• Validating climate model outputs for ocean surface energy balance using the surface upward and downward longwave fluxes.

Strengths

• Provides a long temporal record, with one source indicating coverage from July 1983 to June 2017 for a related shortwave product.
• Contains a specific set of 26 longwave radiative parameters derived from established satellite and reanalysis inputs.
• Data collection is noted as complete for the primary product, suggesting a finalized and stable dataset.

Limitations

• Conflicting temporal ranges: the longwave ocean-only product is listed as January 2010–June 2017, while a related shortwave product is listed as July 1983–June 2017.
• Sparse metadata: specific column names and dataset size (rows, file size) are unknown across all sources.
• The ocean-only scope is noted as an extension due to a missing key input, which may limit applicability for land-based studies.

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, ISCCP nnHIRS, SeaFlux SST, and MERRA-2.

Time Range

January 2010 through June 2017

Freshness

2026-04-10 03:12:19.150011

Geography

Global, ocean-only