Nimbus-7 Earth Radiation Budget Gridded Averages

NIMBUS-7 Earth Radiation Budget (ERB-MATRIX) data provides daily, 6-day cyclic, and monthly averaged radiation parameters on a 500 km equal-area world grid. SCIOPS produced the dataset from the ERB instrument aboard the Nimbus-7 satellite, with primary data collection from November 1978 to October 1986. The dataset includes parameters like outgoing longwave radiation and albedo derived from Wide Field of View sensors and a Narrow Field of View scanner that operated until June 1980.

Use Cases

• Modeling global net radiation by analyzing the monthly averaged world grid data for the period 1978-1986.
• Comparing daytime (ascending node) and nighttime (descending node) outgoing longwave radiation values from the fixed Wide Field of View sensors.
• Studying albedo trends on the 500 km equal-area ERB world grid using data from the Narrow Field of View scanner for November 1978 to June 1980.
• Validating newer climate models against historical ERB parameters like net radiation and their statistics from the ERB MATRIX Summary Tape (EMST).

Strengths

• Provides data across three temporal resolutions: daily, 6-day cyclic, and monthly averages.
• Covers a significant time period for climate study, with core data spanning from November 1978 to October 1986.
• Offers data on multiple map grids including an approximately 500 km x 500 km equal-area world grid, mercator, and polar stereographic projections.

Limitations

• Narrow Field of View (NFOV) scanner data is only available for a limited period, from November 1978 to June 1980, due to instrument failure.
• The dataset's last update was in 1990, making it a historical archive with no recent observations.
• Specific row counts, column details, and sample sizes are not provided in the available description.

Provenance

Source

Nimbus-7 Earth Radiation Budget (ERB) instrument, processed by SCIOPS.

Collection Method

Satellite measurements processed into daily, cyclic, and monthly averages on specified map grids.

Time Range

November 1978 to October 1986 for the EMST product; NFOV scanner data from November 1978 to June 1980.

Freshness

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Geography

Global coverage, gridded onto an equal-area world grid and other map projections.